


RED WEST II.

by witchann2



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, American History, Bandits & Outlaws, Brotherly Love, Complete, Drama & Romance, Emotional, Family Issues, Friendship, Love, M/M, Revenge, Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Violence, Shooting Guns, Swearing, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence, Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-20 10:57:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 248,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8246404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchann2/pseuds/witchann2
Summary: Once upon a time in the west... During the wild period of the United States formation, the two guys met, became close friends and lovers, before they had to go separate ways again...Jin is desperately searching for his younger brother Leo, who is wanted for a murder, while Kazuya follows his track, after he had helped the remaining Indians of Blackfeet Tribe to move into the reservation. Will they be able to meet again and overcome the new obstacles? Does the affectionate relationship of the two young men even have any chance in the cruel times?





	1. On the road

**_Wyoming Territory, February 1882_ **

**_City of Cheyenne - 103 miles north of Denver_ **

 

**A** lmost all kids from the city watched the leaving train of Union Pacific Corporation; some even ran along the rails until the locomotive sped up so much they couldn´t keep up with it anymore.

It had already been fourteen years since the railroad reached Cheyenne, bringing the rapid growth to the region, but the station itself was not used as much as was expected back then. The Wyoming Territory lacked the minerals such as gold and silver, which would have attracted more immigrants. Though there could be found some copper instead and the place was basically the only civilized connection to the ways towards the north, so the local population grew slowly but steadily  as the years passed. The arrivals and departures of trains were still kind of an event, especially for small children. That was why they gathered to watch it this time as well.

Mr. Stuart, the city telegrapher, sipped from his afternoon cup of coffee, standing on the privileged spot, which the veranda of his post office was. You could comfortably observe the whole rail station, a good half of the main street and also the big part of the rails disappearing far away on the horizon.

The kids were slowly returning from their futile train chase, balancing at or jumping over the iron tracks, which had already cut through almost all states of the Union from east to west by that time. They were only lightly clothed, despite the winter time of early February. The annual Chinook wind from the Laramie mountain range came quite late that year, so Mr. Stuart expected no more heavy snowing after it would stop blowing. But that expectation could have been changed easily; the whims of the nature in their territory were unpredictable.

Only the small piles of snow were desperately trying to survive in the dark shadows of the buildings and trees, but there was no escape from of the sun beams and especially the warm wind, which was coming to Cheyenne regularly; each year it allowed the citizens to have a break from the tough winter for a while. One time the warm period lasted for twenty days, that even the flowers started to bloom, before they were frozen up to the core again.

Mister Telegrapher, as he was called by the kids, faced the Sun with a satisfied sigh; it felt great to be warmed up after the mercilessly cold period and storm season. Moreover, he had quite a lot of time off at hand with the wires destroyed in the last huge storm, which fortunately didn´t stop trains from running, but the telegraph connection took a while to be restored.

As Mr. Stuart finished his coffee and intended to return to the office, his eyes glanced over the main street. He was familiar with almost everyone in the town; he knew most of the citizens by their names thanks to his job as a telegrapher and post man. So he immediately knew that the two riders coming from the north were not local. The strangers were still too far for Mr. Stuart to recognize their faces, so he took a broom and pretended to clean up the veranda from non-existing mess, waiting for them to come closer.

It didn´t take long before the curious telegrapher, temporarily without a job, recognized that one of the newcomers was an Indian riding the dark brown stallion and the second one an unusually handsome young man sitting in a very neat saddle on the white mare. It was quite an unusual sight in Cheyenne, as almost all Indian tribes formerly inhabiting the territory were already properly moved into the reservations and they were usually not allowed to trespass into any city.

Both the riders and horses seemed to be tired, as if there was a very long journey behind them. If they really came from the north, it was quite a wonder, Mr. Stuart thought. It was almost impossible to travel from Montana down here to the borders with Colorado in such a season. But judging their appearance, the heavy furs and stuff attached to the saddles, it definitely seemed so.

Many curious eyes followed the newcomers, as they rode along the main street, but nobody approached them.

Mr. Stuart thought that the travellers would have headed to the saloon, but instead he found them leading their animals directly towards his office. He frowned, wondering what business they might have with the railroad, or if they just intended to pass through the city without stopping here. He got quite surprised, when the young stranger reached the building first, dismounted his mare and spoke to him in a clearly tired, but unexpectedly polite voice.

“Good day, Mister. Are you the local post man?”

“Sure, I am,” the telegrapher nodded, still baffled about the unusual newcomers and put the broom aside. “My name is Robert Stuart, at your service.”

The young man stepped up onto the veranda, while his Indian companion remained in his saddle, not saying a word.

“Nice to meet you,” the well-mannered youngster reached out for a handshake.

Mr. Stuart accepted his firm hand, observing the pale face in front of him curiously.

“Likewise, young man… Can I help you somehow?”

“I hope you can,” the young stranger nodded. “My name is Kamenashi and I just want to ask if there is any message for me.”

“Kamenashi, you say… I have to check it, come with me,” Robert invited the young man inside, entering the office first. It was an unusual name and the telegrapher had a feeling he had already heard it before.

Kamenashi followed him inside and waited, reading the notice board with the latest news and wanted posters, while Robert searched through his pile of unpicked messages. There were not many of them, so he found it quite quickly.

“Ah, I knew there was something… Here.”

Mr. Stuart handed a small sealed envelope over to Kamenashi. The young man´s face remained tense, as he opened the letter and seemed to be relieved a little only after reading the words. The telegrapher was already going through the list of the last telegrams, which he managed to receive before that ugly storm broke the connection.

“Yes, yes, it is for you…” he murmured. “Kamenashi Kazuya, is that right?” Robert asked, checking the telegram, which he dug out from the small pile.

The youngster observed his hands holding the small paper.

“Yes, that´s correct,” he nodded carefully.

“This telegram is for you as well then…”

 

**To: Kazuya Kamenashi, City of Cheyenne**

**From: Jin Akanishi, Fort Kearney**

**BROTHER STILL ON RUN STOP GOING TO DENVER TOMORROW STOP MEET ME AT BLAKE STREET SALOON END**

 

Only after he finished reading the short message, Kame started to breathe again. So far there was not any bad news. The first sealed message Jin left for him said that he decided to go with Captain Walker to the military fortress in Kearney, nearby Omaha, as there was a word that a member of the Black Riders was captured. It seemed that once he made sure it was not his brother; he managed to gather some info and decided to proceed to Denver. The telegram didn´t say anything about Walker or about the search itself, but Kame was satisfied enough to know that Jin was alive and probably in one piece.

“When did this arrive, Mr. Stuart?” he asked.

“Four days ago,” the telegrapher informed him.

Well, that was not the best information of all…

“Four…” Kame repeated frowning. “And there was not anything else since then?”

“Unfortunately not, young man… We are not reconnected yet,” Mr. Stuart shrugged. “The storm destroyed some of the wires. They are still working on it.”

Kame suppressed the urge to curse. Tons of various things could have happened in four days, especially when it came to Jin.

“All right, thank you anyway.”

“It´s my job,” the telegrapher informed him, with an expression at his face, which clearly exposed that the man was proud of his work.

“Don´t you know how long it would take to get from Fort Kearney to Denver?” Kame asked, folding the telegram and hiding it inside his pocket.

“Well… There is a regular train service on this route, so no more than two days under the best circumstances.”

“That´s fast…” Kame murmured. “And from here with a horse?”

“It´s around one hundred miles away…” Mr. Stuart reacted. “Probably three days of journey,  if you travel only during daylight.”

“Thank you once again, Mr. Stuart,” Kamenashi nodded, almost turning away for leaving, when he thought of a possible way of how to let Jin know he was coming. “By any chance, do you know when you will be able to send any telegram away?”

But the telegrapher shrugged hopelessly.

“No idea, I´m sorry. It doesn´t look well with the repairs so far…”

***

 

**_State of Colorado_ **

**_Castle Rock outskirts - 29 miles south of Denver_ **

 

The soft wind was playing with the first straws of grass, which dared to peek out from the recently unfrozen ground of wide meadows spread wildly around the city. The warmth of the Sun was already luring the first tiny flowers up above the ground, creating nice contrast with the wide spaces covered with persistent snow. It was only the middle of February and too early to be relieved that the hard season was over, but despite that the day felt like a true spring.

The huge lonely rock of unusual shape was standing proudly on the hill above the road, which connected Castle Rock and Colorado Springs on the south, consuming all accessible sun beams like a hungry creature. It provided a comfortable dry spot in the lee covered with some thick bushes, which were so big that nobody could be seen behind them, even if they were standing up. Probably that was why a young man with shoulder-long black hair chose it as his observing place.

The guy was seated right next to the warm stone wall, focused at his important task – cleaning, checking and loading of the two revolvers, one rifle and two knives.

Nothing interrupted the peace of that place except the quiet sounds that the weapons made, when they were carefully placed at the flat stone nearby. Suddenly, a stallion, black as night itself, standing calmly just the two meters away from the young gunslinger, made out a warning neigh.

The black haired one raised his head immediately, glancing at the animal, as it shook its noble head. He put the last weapon aside and stood up, approaching the edge of the natural plateau, but remaining hidden behind the bushes. He checked the road down under the hill and almost right away he spotted the stagecoach pulled by two strong horses running fast from the north.

It was not the regular postal coach, which made the trip on that very road to Denver and back again every day. This one was accompanied by two government soldiers and its windows were covered with the thick shutters. That might have been something he was waiting for.

Jin rushed back to gather his weapons and jumped up on the black horse in no time, ready to follow the coach from far enough not to be spotted. This was his third attempt already, but he just couldn´t sit on his ass doing nothing at all. His rides along the main roads leading to Denver were, according to the information he had gathered so far, definitely worth of trying.

*

A mere five miles passed under the hooves of the black horse, when the animal stopped its regular pace suddenly and retreated a little. Its rider checked the road on his right; the coach was still in his sight. Then Jin´s eyes observed the both sides of it, looking for any possible… And then he saw it.

There was a place, where the coach had to cross a narrow stream. Jin knew about it, because he went that way before as well. And the trough of that creek was deep, convenient for hideout and a good spot for raid…

The youngster led his horse off the road, taking cover among the bushes and stones, proceeding forward only very slowly. And his caution paid off, as not long after that he spotted a suspicious shadow on the opposite side of the road.

Jin left the saddle, patting the animal across the neck appreciatively.

“Good job, Kuro,” he whispered to the stallion´s ear.

The horse just snorted, sounding almost amused.

“I know, I know,” Jin smirked. “I would have been lost without you.”

The guy took the reins in his hands, the eyes focused at the narrow bridge, which the coach almost reached by that time.

“Let´s go… I´ve got the feeling something is in the air. And it´s not the spring…” Jin murmured for himself, just before the first gunshots were heard in the distance.

***

 

**_State of Colorado_ **

**_Fort Collins - 65 miles north of Denver_ **

 

The heavy pants synchronized with silent creaking of the wood scratching the floor were heard in the dark dusty room, which served as the main office of Laporte Sandstone Quarry, located an hour of horse ride away from the centre of Fort Collins.

A boy, who had just recently reached the nineteenth year of his life, was leaning over the table, clutching its edges so firmly, that his knuckles were clearly visible, purely white under his skin. He was desperately suppressing the painful gasps, which were stubbornly trying to escape his shaking lips.

It hurt. It hurt so much that it almost destroyed any chance for excitement he might have felt. Almost.

The two hard hands grabbed his hips to place him into more convenient position, which was even more uncomfortable for him. Another hard thrust between his already too sensitive halves aimed even further than before and Danny was not able to fight down a pained groan this time. But the greedy owner of attacking flesh inside his ass didn´t care, and held him steady while pushing in even more violently.

Danny flinched in a futile attempt to escape the gross touch on his cock. He felt a little ashamed that he was hard. The man´s fingers tightened around his aroused member and then he felt the hot breath stinking of cigarettes at his cheek, when his boss spoke: “Do not pretend you don´t like this, boy.”

Danny was breathing heavily, imprisoned in the firm grasp, with the older man´s hand brushing over the most private part of his body roughly. He was still consumed with the burning pain deep inside, but at the same time he felt so hot and aroused that he could have only wished for that hand to continue its movements. He was desperate to relieve at least some of that accumulated stress, excitement and humiliation.

“I know you do,” the hoarse voice stated confidently, and Danny could almost see the satisfied smirk on that man´s face, despite that at the moment he could observe only the room in front of him.

The torturing hand returned to its previous position on Danny´s side and the previous movements picked up their pace quickly. The boy closed his eyes, determined to bear it till the end, hoping that maybe, maybe this time Math would…

But he was wrong, just like the previous time. With a long satisfied moan the man came inside him, releasing the sticky stuff and remained attached to him just shortly, to gain his composure. Then Math stepped back and finally let him go, leaving Danny with his hardness screaming for attention to deal with it himself.

Danny felt the burning tears in his eyes, when he heard the buckle of the other´s trousers and the steps going away from him. He didn´t let the salty liquid to slip from behind his eyelids; he knew it wouldn´t have been welcomed. Instead, he reached for his painfully hard member and with the anxious feeling, which squeezed his guts; he started to caress it hastily…

 

The cigarette always felt better after a good fuck. Math Grenet let the toxic smoke reach his lungs with pleasure, before he breathed it out. He approached the window, looking out at the men from the afternoon shift, who were just loading the second train of that day.

The sandstone in the close area was of a high quality and very valued. When a man was clever enough, it meant a steady income. And one who managed to be at least a little devious, some bonuses were included as well. Sadly, with bad financial consequences for the workers…

Hearing the gradually heavier and faster gasps for a breath, Math turned to glance back at the boy, who was just trying so hard to bring himself over the edge. A smirk formed on his lips at the sight.

He was so right about the boy willing to do anything for him. Not much persuasion was necessary and it was not like he would have even bothered with that in case the boy would have had some complaints. There were more than enough whores available in the city, but somehow Math enjoyed Danny more.

The man made himself comfortable at the windowsill, and watched the boy, until he was finished. And that was even before his cigarette was done. It was almost incredible, how much humiliation naive Danny was able to bear, but it was more than convenient for him.

Danny collected himself slowly, his face blushed and sweated. He avoided Math´s glance as he pulled his trousers back up…

“Go and tell those lazy black skins outside I want that train to depart Laporte before sunset,” Math ordered him and Danny nodded.

Grenet finished his cigarette and observed the boy with narrowed eyes. Dan was naive and sweet. Maybe even too naive, but still Math enjoyed his company more than of that crazy bastard Cameron. That man even gave him the creeps sometimes.

“And then get us some beer,” he added after.

Danny´s head plopped up immediately hearing the words.

“Shouldn´t I go to Fort Collins this evening? To check out the news?”

“Tomorrow will be good enough,” Grenet snorted. “I want you here this evening. Any complaints?”

“Of course not!” Danny rushed to assure him. “I… just…”

“Move your ass, Dannie, before I change my mind,” Grenet´s glare made Danny put his back straight, almost saluting.

“Yes, sir!”

Math smirked again, when he noticed that despite the boy trying to cover it, he was limping slightly on his way to the exit.

“And find me Cameron. I need to talk with him.”

“I will send him here right away,” Danny nodded again, before he disappeared behind the door.

_I really need to have a good talk with that creepy man,_ Grenet thought, glancing out at the busy scenery again.

The winter was almost over and he didn´t want to wait anymore, in the damn dusty valley or in that too pretty city. He wanted to go back to the north, to Bozeman, and finally to give to those two pretty bastards a proper lesson.

The winter was damn long for waiting, especially when you waited for your revenge.

***

 

**_City of Cheyenne_ **

 

“Are you sure about this, Kame?” Liwan´s face was clearly showing many worries, when they dismounted their horses on the road leading out from the city directly to the south. Only thirteen miles were left to get to the borders between Wyoming and Colorado.

Kazuya approached his best friend and now also blood brother with a reassuring smile, taking his right arm into a firm grasp.

“I am. The most difficult part of the journey is over. I´m sure I will get to Denver without any bigger issues,” he stated confidently. “It´s you I´m worried about. You have to go back the same way. And those Crows folks didn´t seem very friendly before…”

“I can handle a few shouting birds,” Liwan snorted, almost annoyed, so that Kame had to suppress a smile. The long-lasting grudge between the particular tribes was something really useless in these days and the Indians were still clinging on it almost desperately. Even though they knew they all had only one enemy now – the white nation.

“All right, just don´t let those birds fly too close to you,” the younger one urged.

“And _you_ do not involve in anything unnecessary,” the Indian returned the request. “Though I am sure there will be many unnecessary troubles once you will meet with Akanishi again…”

“And we will deal with it as always,” Kame said, smiling softly just at the mention of the name.

Liwan finally grabbed the younger one´s arm just below the elbow firmly as well.

“I will miss you, Kame…”

“I will miss you too, Brother. I will visit the reservation as soon as I can. So make sure that everything will be all right there, when I come.”

“Sure,” Liwan nodded, and changed the handgrip to a hug.

“Thank you for seeing me off so far…” Kame stated, already serious, hugging the Indian back. “I wouldn´t have made it without you.”

“I am quite sure Akanishi would have come to chew my head off if I had let you go alone in that crazy weather,” Liwan muttered, half-joking.

Kame knew very well that his friend was just too worried about him to let him leave the new home of what was left from the Blackfeet Tribe on his own. But they were on the way for too long and it would take many weeks for Liwan to get back to the tribe, and considering the conditions up there, it was really about time for him to go back.

“Have a safe journey back,” Kazuya said.

Liwan opened his mouth to reply, but the younger guy beat him to it.

“I promise I will be careful.”

Only then the Indian nodded and let his white friend slip from his grip.

*

Liwan kept watching his young brother riding away, until the rider´s figure was so small that he couldn´t recognize it anymore. He noticed that Kazuya incited his dear mare to a faster pace than they had used so far. Even during their farewell he could already see in the younger´s face, that his mind was already half way to Denver.

Liwan knew his blood brother maybe even better than Kame had realized. No matter how cheerful and optimistic Kazuya tried to behave during the past two months, he could see there was always a hint of dark sadness inside of him.

Kame was like that since the very moment he had finally arrived to their secret cave, to help the tribe with the moving to the north. Liwan had a bad hunch immediately, when he had noticed that Kazuya came without his annoying boyfriend. The guy explained to him everything that they had found out about the Akanishi´s brother and about their decision.

Liwan was honestly glad that Kame came back to them as he had promised, but he could see that the separation was a significant hit on the younger one. It was hard to notice, as Kazuya was great at covering those things inside him, but Liwan caught him up in the absent-minded sorrowful states a few times. The more days the younger one spent with the tribe, the less he laughed or talked, till it came to the point Liwan himself offered to accompany him on the way to the south.

Kame was missing Akanishi much more than he was willing to admit to himself and Liwan saw it. The absence of the older guy was tearing him apart, as well as the absolute lack of knowledge of what was happening to him. It was already back then, in the reservation, when Liwan finally accepted that Kame loved that black-haired impatient guy. That he loved him so much he was even willing to risk the trip across the Rockies during the hard winter…

Probably all good spirits were on their side during the travel. Liwan didn´t believe that they were just lucky enough to get to the city of white men, further in the south than he had ever been, safely. The harsh weather and hostile tribes were not exactly the best conditions for such a long trip. But they made it; they reached Cheyenne and it was clearly visible how relieved Kazuya was to find that message waiting there for him.

Liwan closed his eyes for a moment, sending a humble prayer to the Great Manitou to watch over his blood brother, before he mounted his own patiently waiting horse. It was time to set off back to the north. There were others, about whom he had to be worried about. And he was determined to get to the reservation as soon as possible…

***

                    

**_Castle Rock outskirts_ **

 

A small group of riders dressed in black reached the top of the first hill above the bridge, which was the place of their ambush, slowing their horses from the trot a little. The satisfied yells and laughing could be heard, as they waved with the heavy bags printed with the government marks.

This time, the soldiers accompanying the coach were incredible cowards and they let themselves to be tied up, when they were promised no harm. So the blue uniforms were swirling under the bridge, hoping for any random traveller, while the coach was left standing on the stream´s bank.

The five men pulled the scarves off their faces, which revealed two gunslingers to be in their thirties and two younger ones no more than about twenty years old. Their leader was a strictly looking well-built man, older than all of them and he was the only one who was not laughing. Right the opposite, he was on full alert, watching the closest surroundings suspiciously.

The robbers passed around the huge stones, ready to continue their ride to the west, when a calm voice was heard, which made all of them halt right away.

“Seems the business went well today…”

The leader was the first one to have his gun in hand again, turning his horse back towards the dark spot, which they had just passed. A black-haired youngster, with a red scarf around his neck, came out of the shadows with both his hands raised in the air, obviously empty.

“Black Riders, I dare to assume?” the young stranger asked, absolutely unmoved by the five guns aiming at him.

“Who asks?” the oldest man went forward.

“I´d like to know if I´m talking with the right people first,” the youngster retorted.

“Right people?” one of the younger men reacted with a snort. “Yeah, we´re definitely _right_ people.”

“Shut up, Carl,” another one scolded him.

“I do not think you´re in position to set up the conditions, boy,” the oldest man warned.

The stranger shrugged.

“Yeah, I bet that your leader is the one to decide all the rules…”

The man, who had questioned him so far, frowned and dismounted his horse, approaching the youngster closer.

“I do _not_ like your attitude, boy. If you are just another bounty hunter, then you are the dumbest one I have ever met. I can just shoot your head off right now,” the man snorted with his revolver almost touching the intruder´s forehead.

“Hey, wait a second! I do search for your leader, but I´m not any damn bounty hunter,” the young stranger assured him.

The leader of the group of robbers smirked: “ _Who_ are you then?”

The youngster moved his hand slowly, just to take the hat off his head, so that the sun could illuminate his face, so far covered in shadow. It made the younger part of the company gasp in surprise, while the elder´s eyes went wide.

“I´m Leo´s brother,” the black haired one announced.

“Wow…”

“Brother?”

There could be heard the excited whispers among the members of the group, but the old man was not convinced.

“Anyone could have said that,” he snorted. “Why should we believe you?”

“Why would I lie?” the young man asked back.

“They definitely look alike,” one of the others spoke up.

“That itself doesn´t mean anything,” the leader insisted.

“Take me to him then, he can confirm it personally,” the youngster suggested. “I bet my little bro didn´t forget my face just after the two years.”

There was still a strong hostility in the men´s eyes, but he kept silent.

“He´s right, Cullen. Let´s take him with us,” one of the younger boys stated.

“Why are you looking for him?” the old man asked.

“Do I need a reason to see my own brother?” the young gunslinger raised his eyebrows.

Cullen snorted something intelligible.

“Do not make an idiot out of me, boy,” he said then. “With a reward that high, anyone would kill his own mother these days.”

The guy´s face went dark. Self-introduced Akanishi let his hands go down slowly despite the muzzle of the old man´s gun still in front of his nose.

“I´m not that type,” he stated firmly, in a very cold tone.

The man observed him for a while, before he let his revolver down.

“All right then… But let me say it clearly, boy - I do not trust you. If you hand over all your weapons and let yourself be tied, I am willing to drag you along. Otherwise you can just _rest_ under the bridge along with those cowards in blue.”

“That´s a fair deal,” the youngster nodded slowly. “I can give you my weapons, but the binding is not necessary…”

One of the younger ones jumped down his horse as well, approaching them with a smile.

“Do not be so stern, Cullen. He is alone, and there are five of us.”

“Better be safe than sorry,” the old man hissed.

“I can only agree with that,” Akanishi nodded immediately.

That surprised the oldest man, while the younger one raised his hand towards the stranger.

“Hey, nice to meet you. I´m Ryo.”

“Jin,” the other guy accepted the hand.

“Man, you´re really damn alike!” Ryo exclaimed, observing Jin from almost unpleasant closeness.

“And you are too damn trusting, my young friend,” Cullen snorted.

“Hey, Cullen, let him ride without chains, all right? On my responsibility,” the boy offered.

The other three just laughed, as if they expected nothing else of Ryo. Their leader was not exactly satisfied, but still he let the boy have his way.

“As you wish. But do not come to me crying if it backfires on you,” he snorted. “Let´s go! We´ve wasted enough time already! Well… In case that here _Mister Akanishi_ has anything to ride on.”

“Of course I do,” Jin smiled a little. “He even wants so meet you, I guess.”

The little group laughed out again, when a black stallion snorted right next to the Cullen´s ear making the man to jump up in surprise.

“Damn! The horse even sneakier than his master!” Cullen cursed.

Jin reached towards Kuro, caressing the animal gently.

“We will take it as a compliment,” he smirked at the man.

Ryo was obviously having a lot of fun over the Cullen´s baffled expression, but in the end the old man repaid Jin´s smirk.

“Seems that we will have some fun on the way back with you…”


	2. Two surprising captives

**D** anny just barely suppressed a yawn, which threatened to expose his exhaustion. He was supposed to be fully aware of his surroundings, watching out for anything interesting or suspicious, not being half-asleep, as he actually felt. Math insisted on having perfect view over everything what happened in the city and he was his informer and watchman in one, naturally. Not mentioning his last, but hopefully not least, position in bed of the former deputy.

The boy started to pace in front of the small building to keep himself on alert. His boss was closed in the local Sheriff´s Office for more than half an hour already and waiting for him was quite tiresome.

Danny glanced at the closed door hopelessly for a tenth time within ten minutes and then focused on the happenings on the street again. Fort Collins was very different from Bozeman. The streets were wide and the houses bright and big. The city was only at the start of its growth, but it was already clear that it was going to be a big one soon.

Math used to say that Fort Collins is a city for weaklings and women. Not unexpectedly, the gunman didn´t like the City Council, which was stubbornly fighting against the numerous brothels and saloons and pubs, which spread around freely so far and that didn´t fit the image of the prosperous city, which certain men had in their minds.

Danny himself thought that it was a really nice place to live in; somehow not suited for dirty cowboys and gunmen with dubious pasts. But his boss managed to find a good position for himself there anyway…

Math was quite lucky he could appear in the city without worrying about showing his face. Or better to say he was cocky enough. The local lawman had no balls to stand against the former Karnaka´s right hand, no matter that the top boss was already dead. The result of their first meeting was that the man agreed with each of Grenet´s demands, not publishing his wanted poster included.

In either case, they had to be really careful only about the strangers and passerbys, who might have remembered seeing Grenet´s face somewhere before. Otherwise it was safe to appear in public without attracting much attention, which didn´t always work, as Math _loved_ attention. But anyway, the government and Bozeman was far enough for them to be calm regarding the charges levelled at Grenet´s head.

The main street was very lively in the middle of the sun´s trip across the sky. The workers from the fields were rushing home for lunch, a few carts were standing in front of the biggest hotel in town and the air was filled with a smell that was a bit suspicious, which was leaking from the saloon´s kitchen. The owner of the convenient shop enjoyed a cigarette outside his shop lazily, while his wife was chasing some brats away from the fresh bread, which was exposed outside for purchase.

Danny leant over the wooden railing again, letting his eyes scan over the faces on the street, but not really seeing them. There was nobody interesting enough to…

The boy´s thoughts froze at the sight of a familiar face. At first, Danny was not sure if his eyes didn´t deceive him, but then the young man leading a beautiful white mare appeared in his sight again, heading to the convenience store and Danny´s jaw dropped at recognizing the slim figure in dark clothes. It was Kazuya Kamenashi. The very one Math kept mentioning constantly, along with ´that bastard Akanishi´ almost every time he got drunk.

Danny knew that his boss was more than eager to deal with both of them for good months ago, but he was sent to Fort Collins instead. Once the news about Mr. Karnaka´s death reached them, it was already too late for the trip back north, even Math had to admit that. But he never let go of his desire to make those guys´ lives miserable. With a certain dull ache, Danny noticed that even only the mention of Kamenashi´s name awoke more emotions in Grenet than Danny´s own physical presence.

The bartender from Bozeman, who obviously endured quite a long journey, but despite that seemed to be cheerful, entered the shop, leaving his mare behind, tied to the railing. And right at that moment the door behind Danny opened so suddenly that he flinched a little. The heavy black boots crossed the veranda, on the way kicking a small dog, which was resting there, and approached his position, while the animal ran off with a painful howling.

Grenet already lit up the cigarette without paying much attention to his surroundings.

“I´ve had enough of that old man´s bullshit, let´s go,” he snorted.

Danny opened his mouth and… hesitated.

He had no idea why, but for some reason he didn´t want to tell Math about whom he saw. It was just a mere second and that feeling disappeared, when Math stopped in his departure, noticing that Danny didn´t follow him.

“What is it? Did your feet got stuck there or what?”

Danny rushed to the gunman´s side.

“I saw somebody,” he leant towards Grenet urgently. “Do you see that white horse at the shop?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Math asked, not recognizing it.

“It´s Kamenashi´s animal…”

Grenet immediately seemed to forget the cigarette between his lips and his eyes focused at the mare again, this time with much bigger interest.

“Are you sure?” the man´s voice was thick with emotion, which Danny was not able to decipher.

“I saw him, boss. He is inside.”

Grenet kept quiet for a few long moments, before a calculative smirk appeared on his lips. He squashed the almost unused cigarette into the ground.

“Make sure he stays in there for as long as possible,” the man ordered, already dragging surprised Danny towards the store.

“But how should I…?”

“Figure something out!” Grenet snapped. “I will not take any risks this time… I will make him to come to me… Just keep him in the store and then watch over him.”

“It doesn´t seem that he would like to stay…” Danny murmured not very happy about his new task.

Grenet face acquired quite a terrifying grimace.

“Don´t worry, Dannie. He will not leave.”

*

Kame just wanted to restock his food supplies before continuing his journey towards Denver and a neat store at the main street of Fort Collins seemed to be as good as any other place. But in the end he caught himself in quite a long discussion with the shop´s owner, as Mr. Barto lived in Denver before moving to Fort Collins, and he knew quite a lot about the evolving town with his sister still living there, so Kame thought it would be good to know something about it in advance. According to what he had heard so far, Denver was bigger and bigger every day.

He listened to Barto´s narration eagerly and he didn´t realize that anything was wrong until he heard a painful neigh from the outside. Kame would have recognized it among the hundreds of horses – it was Ukushi who had made that sound.

He excused himself to the seller and rushed to the exit, leaving even his purchase behind. Stepping at the veranda, Kame stared for a long moment at the empty place where his dear mare was supposed to be. Then his head yanked from one side to another, as he checked both sides of the wide street, but the white animal was nowhere in sight.

Filled with fright Kame jumped down to the dusty ground, and rushed to both corners of the store, finding nothing at all.

_I was inside for no longer than a few minutes! How could have anyone stolen her so quickly?_

The blood froze in his veins, Kame couldn´t move and his breath got stuck in his lungs. He considered everything possible, what could have stood in his way during the trip to Denver, even the robbers and he was always careful about everything. It was just… for just a moment he relented in his focus and now Ukushi was gone.

Kame forced himself to take a deep breath to calm down. Only in case that he kept his mind clear, he might be able to catch the one who took his animal companion. He looked around again, searching for anyone who might have cared enough to spot something suspicious going on, when he had finally felt someone´s gaze.

Kame turned back to the shop´s entrance. A guy was standing there in the shadow, younger than him, and also even slimmer. He recognized him almost immediately, and the alarmed expression on the youngster´s face just confirmed to Kame he was right about being watched.

As far as Kame knew, Danny McFly disappeared from Bozeman just shortly after Grenet fled, along with a few others. It was not difficult to guess where they went. And if McFly was in Fort Collins, it was more than likely that his former superior was there as well. Kame felt chills on his back when he realized what that could mean…

He was back at the veranda within a second, grabbing the boy´s coat before the younger one could make a single move and pulled him closer.

“This is _his_ doing, right?” Kame asked sharply right into the boy´s face.

Danny opened his mouth in surprise: “I… I don´t know what…”

But one would have to be a better actor to fool Kame, who had already learnt how to read people´s faces.

“Do not even try to deny it,” he interrupted the boy´s blabbering. “Grenet. He´s here, right? And he just took _my mare_.”

Danny´s baffled silence was a sufficient confirmation for Kame´s assumption.

“Hey… What´s going on here?” it was Mr. Barto, who came outside to check on the situation. “Let that boy go, Mister…”

Kame kept staring at McFly´s face, but realizing that there was no use in creating an unnecessary fuss, he let the cloth of his coat slip from his fingers, when Danny took a step backwards.

“I´m sorry, Mister,” Kame turned to the shop owner. “It´s just that my horse was taken.”

“Is that so?!” the man´s eyes went wide. “That´s unbelievable! A theft in our city in broad daylight? Something like that didn´t happen for long months, Mister, I can assure you.”

“It happened today,” Kame reacted gloomily. “I´d like to pay for my purchase now, if you don´t mind.”

“Of course, of course,” Barto nodded, heading the way in. “It´s really hard to believe…”

Kame didn´t even glance at the boy and went to settle his bill. When he appeared outside again, as expected, McFly was still there.

“Kamenashi, I really don´t know what…”

“Save your breath,” Kame recommended him and passed around without even slowing his steps.

*

Danny followed upset Kamenashi, who was clearly heading towards the Sheriff´s Office, a little helpless about what to do. No matter that Math and also Cameron had the local man with the star under their thumbs; the bartender from Bozeman could have caused quite a fuss about the wanted man present in the city.

Danny realized that Math didn´t care about it at all. Once he heard Kamenashi´s name, he didn´t bother with anything else. But Danny did and now he was supposed to deal with it. But how? He couldn´t figure out nothing better than to wait and see how it would work out…

*

Kame couldn´t believe what his ears told him. The sheriff of Fort Collins was younger than the one who used to be in the office in Bozeman, but obviously a bigger coward. He knew that look in the man´s eyes - it was the look of a man who is afraid.

“Will you not confirm it then?” Kame asked once again quite indignant with the man´s attitude. Even without Karnaka´s influence Grenet was able to manipulate with people this much?

“ _If_ there was a wanted criminal in my city, I think I would have known, boy,” the so-called Sheriff snorted. “You should take a better care of your property instead of trying to teach me how to do my job. And now stop wasting my time.”

For once Kame skipped the courtesies and left the office full of righteous anger. He made a stop at the veranda, scanning the lively street with his eyes and trying to figure out what to do.

He didn´t know where Grenet might have taken Ukushi. He could just hope that bastard would let the animal live. Who knew what might have been going through his head? And who would even guess that he would come across that arsonist and murderer on his way to Denver… Some bad luck was with him this time.

Kame took a deep breath and regained some of his composure back. Grenet was not exactly famous for being inconspicuous. If McFly didn´t talk and the sheriff was on Grenet´s side, there were other ways to find out where the escaped criminal might have his current residence.

The young traveller shifted the hat from the back onto his head, pulling it lower to shadow his face and well aware of the curious glance from that stupid boy, who was waiting at the corner of the building, he headed to the closest saloon…

*

 

“Why so nervous, Danny?” an amused voice interrupted the boy´s pacing in front of the ´ _Elite´s_ ´, one of the most famous pubs in the city.

Danny flinched at the sound and turned to face his boss, who approached him again with the cigarette between his smirking lips.

“Boss… Finally…” Danny breathed out in relief. It was already after dark and he was afraid that Kamenashi might give up his search and leave, which would have meant quite a difficult choice, as if to follow him or report to Math.

“So? What has our dear fellow been doing?” the gunman asked.

“He noticed me right away, sir,” Danny admitted. “But I told him nothing. He went to Sheriff then, but was kicked out soon enough,” he informed the smoking man. “It seems he has been asking for you in the pubs since.”

“Is he inside then?” Grenet glanced at the cheerfully lit up windows.

“Yes, for more than an hour now,” Danny nodded.

“Good… Come with me. Let´s have some fun tonight,” Grenet smiled in such an ugly way, which would get more sensitive people to run off, and set off towards the entrance.

*

 

Past experiences were bad enough for Kame not to expect anything good coming from Math Grenet. He was damn sure that the gunman was the one who stole his mare and he was determined to get her back. But if he was forced to resolve some issues with that man, it would have delayed his journey significantly at best, and Kame didn´t want to allow that.

It was impossible to ask about Grenet directly; Kame assumed that anyone who might knew anything would have remained silent anyway. So he was patient. He visited three pubs and two brothels in a row, taking a sip of water or tea in each, constantly refusing alcohol and listening carefully to the talks around. And at the sixth place he was lucky to overhear one pretty harlot cursing somebody to the third generation.

It cost Kame some of his personal charm and the two golden coins to find out that a certain man appeared in Fort Collins almost three months ago. A rude gunman, who somehow ended up being in charge a nearby quarry and didn´t treat any lady in the pleasure house well.

The harlot seemed to enjoy Kame´s company more than it was expected of her, so only after he promised to come back, she even showed him the back exit from the building, which was usually used only by the staff. That´s why he could avoid the watchdog McFly outside and rush to the public stables to negotiate borrowing a horse.

He had to leave almost his whole wallet behind as a guarantee, but it was worth of it for the moment, even if he didn’t get it back – the animal was healthy and fast and the speed was something what he needed the most now. He arrived at the quarry, which was located exactly where the barkeep told him, in a mere half an hour…

 

Kame stopped the horse above a steep slope leading down to the quarry, which was slowly fading in the twilight. He sneaked to the edge carefully, watching out for any possible guards and observed the scenery for a while, searching for the most convenient way to get there without being noticed.

There was one big building, which probably served as a main office and then a few barracks nearby. The noises of the quarry were fading out with the end of the night shift and the kerosene lamps were being lit up gradually in the whole valley. Fortunately, there was enough light for Kame to notice the horses that were closed off in the small fence behind the main building and there was only one white animal among the dark ones.

Swiftly and noiselessly, just as the Indians had always taught him, Kame sneaked back, just in time before the sturdy man passed by with the rifle in hands, on his patrol. He dared to breathe out only when the guard was ten meters away and he was sure that he couldn´t notice him or his borrowed horse in the shadows.

After checking his weapons, which included one revolver, one knife and two hidden daggers, Kame led the horse further around the quarry and then rushed between the growing shadows towards his goal. There was nothing to wait for, McFly might have already noticed his absence in that bar and informed Grenet. If he was about to free Ukushi, he had to do it at once…

 

It really was his dear mare; Kame recognized her as soon as he managed to get to the fence and the faithful animal gave out a welcome neigh. Creeping closer, Kame wondered if he could dare to get into the fence between other horses without stirring much attention, when he froze on the spot upon hearing a commanding voice.

“It´s the white one! Drag that nag to the barn and it will be there when I get back, otherwise you take its place!”

“Yes, sir!!”

Kame let his eyes get accustomed to the light, which appeared at the veranda of the main building, where the bossy man was obviously setting off to somewhere. He would have recognized that voice anywhere. He didn´t need to see the cruel features in the dim light to know. Grenet was leaving, probably back to the city.

One of his men headed to the fence, while the boss dashed away to the quarry´s end. Kame didn´t move an inch, when the gunman walked by just two meters from him and pulled Ukushi´s bridle to drag her out.

He could have overpowered one man, but there were other two at the veranda, arguing about the reason for Grenet to leave for Fort Collins so late. And they were obviously armed. So it was better to wait and be safe than sorry.

Tense from head to toes Kame watched the man´s direction of walk, before he carefully retreated to the deeper shadows…

 

With a faint exhale of surprise, which couldn´t have alarmed anybody, the guard´s unconscious body dropped to the ground right in front of the small barn. As Kame searched through his pockets, he pushed back the memory of doing exactly the same thing just a few months ago. Despite the darkness, Kame managed to get the lock open on the first try. He dragged the paralyzed guard inside and with the last check of his surroundings he closed the door. There was one light source inside, a lamp hanging on the wall right next to the entrance. Kame took it and looked around hastily.

Ukushi was already shaking her head impatiently, tied too close to some sort of pillar in the middle of the space. Kame was next to her right away, soothing her gently across her neck.

“Ssh, it will be all right, my dear, don´t worry,” he comforted the distressed animal quietly. “I will get you out right now.”

Kame intended to put the lamp aside to have both hands free, when something made him stop in the middle of his move.

“Hey… Hey, you…” Kame almost dropped the light upon hearing the urgent whisper. He didn´t see anyone else in the barn before and thought he was alone.

He scanned the shadows around again and then he finally spotted a sitting figure in the distant corner. With the revolver ready in his other hand Kame made two decisive steps forward so that the yellow light reached the dirty face of a young man around his age with very short strangely blond hair. There were some fading bruises all over his face, his dark shirt was torn and both his hands and legs were tied together firmly with a strong rope - obviously Grenet´s captive. Kame shivered, experiencing a strong sense of _déjà vu_.

“Would you be so kind and help me out of those ties, dude?” despite his situation the young man grinned, even winked at him.

Kame observed the tied up one conspicuously. He didn´t know the guy and he had no idea what business he might have had with Grenet.

“Why should I help you?” he asked slowly.

“Well… I guess you were not invited here for a dinner, right?” the prisoner noted. “Not that I would not enjoy Mister Cameron´s hospitality, but I prefer spending the night under the open sky, if you know what I mean…”

Kame´s eyes went wide.

“Cameron?” he breathed out shocked. That creepy man was there as well?

“Come on! Be nice and cut those things off. You´ll have my endless gratitude,” the strange prisoner urged again.

Kame hesitated. Involving himself in Cameron´s issues was the last thing he was eager for. There was no reason for him to set that youngster free. It might have turned against him as soon as there was a chance.

On the other side, the guy was in a really poor state, but still tried to be cheerful, which was somehow likeable to Kame. And that look in his dark eyes, that unspoken plea… That was not something what Kame could ignore.

“Pretty please?” the prisoner whispered again, waiting tensely for Kame´s decision.

Kame sighed. He already knew himself enough - he was not able to leave the guy there to his fate without feeling guilty. And also – how was the saying? Enemy of my enemy is my friend?

He checked the barn again hastily in the dim light and discovered a small exit in the back part of the barn. Among the keys he took from the guard, there was one which fitted in the small lock. Kame opened the door carefully, finding out that it leads to the empty space. That was good…

Kame went back to Ukushi, swiftly releasing her from the pillar and leading her to the exit.

“Hey!” the youngster breathed out in panic. “Don´t you dare leave me…!”

“Be quiet!” Kame hissed, interrupting his outburst. “Or none of us will get out of here!”

The prisoner closed his mouth with almost audible clack of teeth, while Kame urged Ukushi outside, knowing she would wait for him and then pulled one of the daggers out its sheath.

“I will never forget it, handsome, I swear,” the guy whispered again, when Kame grabbed his wrists and cut the rope tying them together.

“I just hope I will not regret it,” Kame murmured, releasing the guy´s ankles as well.

***

 

The silence following the creak of old hinges was threatening. The men around the barn shifted nervously, looking at each other worriedly.

Math Grenet, a little short of breath after the crazy ride on his horse from the city back to the quarry, stood at the barn´s entrance, staring inside the empty space for a long while.

“I have no idea what happened, boss… I was here, I didn´t even blink…” the recently awaken guard blabbered desperately. “You know I´m a good guard, boss… You know that…”

Grenet´s hand moved so fast that the poor man didn´t have a chance to react, even if he knew what was coming.

A single gunshot cut through the night air, echoing within the walls of the quarry and came back to them just when the guard´s body fell on the ground with a soft thud. Other two men witnessed the scene with their mouths half-open but they didn´t dare to say anything. Neither did Danny, though he was the only one looking at the body with some pity.

“You _were_ a good one,” Grenet grunted before he pushed the revolver back to its place at his belt. “Get him out of my sight,” he ordered.

The gunman didn´t speak loudly, but Danny knew that tone. It was dangerous to talk to Math now. His boss entered the barn, dragging the lantern along with him, checking out the space carefully. While the other two guards dragged the body of their fellow away, Danny hesitated at the entrance, watching as Grenet walked around inside. He took the remains of the rope, which was used to tie up Cameron´s prisoner, into his hand, clenching it in his shaking fist.

“You were faster this time, Kamenashi,” Grenet murmured spitefully, not really caring about his surroundings. “But just this time…”

Then the man stood up again, throwing the useless rope away.

“Danny.”

“Yes?” the boy reacted hesitantly.

“Get me Cameron. I don´t care if he sleeps or fucks someone, just get him to my office. Now.”

*

 

The painful hissing made Kame slow Ukushi down a little and turn back. The recent captive was riding on a strong horse, which they managed to get from the unguarded fence for him, after the guy insisted that the animal was rightfully his. Somehow they also took one old saddle from the barn, but despite that the ride was probably at least a bit uncomfortable for the guy. His features were distorted in pain and he was riding in a strange position. He was probably tied up there for quite a long time and the muscles were submitted to the sudden freedom and hard movements.

“It hurts...” the blonde one moaned, more annoyed than in pain.

“It´s the blood coming back to your veins. Grit your teeth and speed up, if you want to preserve your freedom,” Kame recommended him.

The other guy observed him curiously.

“You know something about this stuff or what?”

“A little,” Kame nodded.

“Interesting… I guess I have no other choice,” the guy caught up with Kame´s mare, and glanced to the darkness behind them.

“Do you expect to be pursued?” he asked the tense guy directly.

“Not sure…” the blond one murmured. “I had a feeling that Mr. Stone Face was done with me already… But I bet that he doesn´t like his prisoners on the run.”

“We should move on then,” Kame urged.

“Hey, wait a second,” the other guy stopped his horse, with Kame unwillingly doing the same.

“What?”

“Just… I´m Koki,” the smiling guy raised a bruised hand towards his rescuer. “And I owe you a lot.”

Kame repaid his firm grip nodding.

“Kame,” he introduced himself shortly. “And I will remember that, Koki.”


	3. Brothers´ reunion

**T** he manager´s office was located on the upper floor of the two-stored building at the edge of the sandstone quarry, which was quite lively despite the very late hour. Almost all present workers were up, discussing the reason of an unusual fuss and recent shooting and there were also more guards around than usually.

Math was tempted with an urge to make the atmosphere even livelier, so that those idiots would have properly remembered to do what they were paid for. But in the end he had decided it would have been just a waste of time.

He squeezed the rest of his cigarette into the window sill and turned back inside the poorly lit room, which belonged to Cameron, who was appointed to the position of the quarry´s main manager a month ago. For being the former ass-licker of Karnaka, he was surprisingly capable and soon managed to gain the respect of all other workers in the quarry.

 _They are still afraid of me more, though_ , Math smirked in his thoughts.

But the truth was that if those lazy bastards knew what their superior was really like, some might ran off praying to the Indian gods for mercy. Sometimes, Math doubted that even he himself knew the true nature of his companion without a surname, as Cameron had never revealed it to anyone.

When the grey-haired man with creepy eyes appeared in Fort Collins in the middle of a furious snowstorm, the news about Karnaka´s death hadn´t reached them yet. Back then, Grenet felt a kind of damn satisfaction. He offered to deal with both the annoying troublemakers, but the awesome Mr. Karnaka despised his abilities and sent him off instead. Well, it bit that old man right back in the arse. On the other hand, it was quite inconvenient not to have the man´s power as a backup.

Anyway, Cameron didn´t seem to care what Grenet thought about the whole disaster. He was focused only on one thing – revenge on both Kamenashi and Akanishi. According to the former Karnaka´s servant, those two - despite it not being proven – were responsible for the ambush on the farm, for burning it down and for his beloved master´s death. The man was more certain about it than about anything else and Math thought the same himself.

It was perfect that they had a common goal now; Math was sure that those two brats would not stand a chance against them. Unfortunately, to Math´s dissatisfaction, it seemed that Cameron was prepared to take more than enough time to achieve his goal. That man was cold and hard as a stone and damn patient, not like Grenet himself. He was eager to go after those two right away, but he had to unwillingly admit, that it was not possible under the weather conditions of this cruel winter.

So they stayed in Laporte, building up their position even without Karnaka´s support. They had enough money to buy the people they needed, and enough guns and guts to threaten the rest. After all that damn long waiting, Math was furious that pretty brat made a fool of him so easily. He should have expected that Kamenashi was not necessarily as stupid as some of his own subordinates. To Math´s surprise and dismay, the former bartender predicted his move and acted faster. Moreover exposing himself as a good fucking Samaritan again and taking their noisy captive along.

Math couldn´t wait to fuck those pretty ideals out of Kamenashi´s brain; that would teach him for sure. Yet now, he was eager to get some drink, but he decided to wait with it until the discussion with Cameron would be over; any drink lost some of its good fragrance in presence of the man, who was sitting at the table silently, his slightly wrinkled face covered in shadow. Just those ice-cold eyes were shining in the darkness.

“So? Any brilliant idea?” Math hissed impatiently. He had enough of that damn thoughtful silence of his companion.

The quarry´s manager pierced him with a glance, which left Math feeling like a stupid kid. Damn this man and his effect on him!

“Why didn´t you tell me sooner?” Cameron asked in a quiet voice, placing both of his hands on the table. “How comes I hear about this only now, when Kamenashi is happily escaping to God-knows-where?”

Annoyed, Math snorted and lit up another cigarette. It seemed that he would not be able to get out for a little while longer.

“I meant to bring him,” he said confidently. “There was no need to tell you.”

“No need?” Cameron repeated. “I would say there is no need _for you to decide_ anything yourself, Grenet. What you did was foolish. Kamenashi knows you already and once he assumed it was you, who had taken his animal, he went after information of your whereabouts immediately. It was quite predictable he wouldn´t wait for you coming to blackmail him.”

“How could I know that little asshole would be so cold-blooded and calculating?” Math exclaimed.

“Kamenashi is not only pretty like a girl; he is smart. You should already know that by now,” Cameron enlightened him contemptuously. “We have to be _smarter_. And definitely not such shining examples of idiots, as you had just shown us to be.”

“I won´t let myself be insulted like this! Don´t think you´re better than me! That incapable idiot, who was supposed to be _guarding_ …”

“At least admit your mistake,” Cameron interrupted the younger man´s complaints coldly.

“He was faster only this time,” Grenet gritted through his teeth. “I will not allow him that the next time.”

“No, _I_ will not let another chance to slip from our fingers like this.”

“I´m quite curious about how are you going to do that?” Math mocked the older man. “It´s like chasing the wind, trying to figure out where he went in this area!”

“Really?” the grey-haired man raised his eyebrows. “Well, dear Math… Since we can assume Kamenashi came down here from the north, where could he be heading to from such a long way away?”

Grenet frowned, inhaling on his cigarette deeply.

“You think he continued to Denver?”

“Excellent,” Cameron praised him in a mocking tone. “I was almost worried you have no brain left.”

Math had to try really hard not to draw one of his revolvers; Cameron became quite lofty recently.

“That´s far from his precious home… What business might he have there?” he wondered instead.

“Do I look like a prophet?” the older man reacted standing up. “Send a few reliable men on the fast horses there, let them check the saloons, and keep someone on the watch over the main crossroads nearby. He might avoid them for now, but who knows…”

“I think it´s a waste of time,” Grenet snorted, still pissed about Cameron´s cocky attitude.

“You should rather not think at all. It´s not good for you.”

***

It was in the early afternoon of the second day which Jin spent in the company of five riders with black scarves around their necks, when it became rather hard for him to suppress his uneasiness. They were getting further and further from Denver with the each mile they rode and their destination was nowhere in sight yet.

Nobody from the small group bothered to tell him where they were heading to in the first place, so he had no idea how long it would take to get there. It made Jin somewhat nervous, as he would have liked to remain close to his temporary accommodation, where (in the case that everything went as they had planned) he was supposed to meet with Kame. He didn´t know where the younger one was at the moment; there was almost no chance for any message from Kame to catch up with him, as Jin was moving from one place to another constantly. But still, it was already more than two months since they had parted in Bozeman and if Kame intended to keep his promise, he had to be close… If…

Jin frowned, discarding own stupid ideas. Why wouldn´t Kazuya keep his word? Of course he did! He was already on his way to Denver for sure. Well, only if his boyfriend received that telegram which he had sent him to Cheyenne…

The young gunslinger almost slapped himself at the realization that he had relented in his focus again. He couldn´t afford that now, not when he was under constant supervision and certainly suspicion of those guys around him and moreover without his guns. Naturally, Jin didn´t expect anything else from the wanted criminals, he had counted with a rather worse attitude than which they had showed him so far.

The members of the Black Riders didn´t talk in Jin´s presence much, and they kept an eye on him all the time, but otherwise they let Jin move freely, they were not hostile and especially Ryo was quite a friendly fellow. He noticed that the oldest man, whom they called Cullen, scolded the guy a few times to be more careful, but the black-eyed one didn´t seem to be bothered with it.

But Jin didn´t trust any of them. He didn´t know what they were thinking about him or what they might have been planning and he had to stay on alert.

Their little group traveled a long way since the moment Jin approached them above the road where they had arranged their ambush of the government coach. They kept going to the west, up to the hills of the Front Range. At the beginning the slopes were small and easy to overcome, but soon the terrain got more difficult and they continued more slowly. The peaks of the nearby mountains still powdered with snow were looking down at the riders, as they proceeded higher, leading their horses on the barely visible paths among the small bushes. It was a boring trip through the wild.

Then finally, with a few more hours left before the sunset, it seemed that they had made some significant progress.

That city appeared out of nothing, which totally confused Jin. Only when he noticed that their group came from the east, while the main road was reaching it from the north, he realized that they had avoided the main connection to the place.

“That´s Leadville,” Ryo informed him, when Jin stopped in the middle of their path, to observe the town down under them. “I´m sure you´ve already heard about it.”

Jin nodded slowly, as that was the truth.

City of Leadville – it was a cradle of the Colorado Silver-rush and one of the main topics in all Denver newspapers. One would have to be deaf not to hear about it, as it was already known all around the state. Just a few years ago founded town was located at a quite high elevation, in the wide valley that bordered with the mountains from almost all the sides. The peaks of them were almost invisible at the time they reached the first houses.

Leadville was not as big as Denver, but from what Jin had heard it was somewhat livelier. It was still spreading and growing fast, as he could see many new buildings and roads and saloons and banks. There were many people outside, despite the quite uncomfortable cold. There were workers, builders, women in nice dresses, cowboys, civilized Indians, even a few black people, gentlemen in suits as well as gunmen with hard looks. With the upcoming evening the pubs got lit up fully and the atmosphere became very cheerful, with the harlots luring their customers inside the brothels and being judged scornfully by the pretty ladies. This mountain city was very alive and much less clean, Jin assumed.

“They say there is already over eleven thousand citizens around, would you believe it?” Ryo noted, riding his stallion right next to Jin´s Kuro.

Jin was quite impressed with the number, but at the moment more interested in the fact that the whole group entered the city so… calmly. They changed their clothing partially on the way, so they were not completely in black as the first time Jin had met them, but in each case it was expected that they would attract some attention. But nobody gave the riders a second glance.

They rode right through the main street fearlessly, as if they were any other common inhabitants of Leadville. Jin was aware of that the faces of Black Riders were not known in general, they were too careful about exposing themselves, but still it amazed him that they behaved so carelessly, especially when they carried quite a few sacs with the stolen silver in their pockets. Even passing around the two-stored office of the local sheriff, their faces didn´t show any sign of concern. Maybe exactly this calm attitude was the point…

It was something what Jin noted to ponder about later. His mind was flooded with various worries and feelings instead. If he was right in his assumptions, he was about to meet with his younger brother. After the two years since they had gone their separate ways and it was not in a friendly manner. He remembered their last furious argument more than well. And somehow he didn´t know what to expect from his sibling now.

For a long while he had already thought about just how Leo could have become the leader of the group itself. He was so young… He was only twenty now. How came that men like the ones who were accompanying him, were willing to be under the command of such a boy?

There were many questions to which Jin would like to know true answers, including the very reason why he was on the trail of his brother now – his crime announced at the wanted posters. It was said that Leo murdered six people. Six. Jin knew that his relationship with Leo was never perfect. But they went through very difficult childhood together and they were very close. He _knew_ his younger brother. And Jin couldn´t just believe that he would have been able of something like that. Leo had done a lot of foolish things, he risked a lot and he joined the Riders without thinking about the consequences, but a murder? He could have killed someone in self-defense, of course, but six human beings?

Jin´s anxiety only increased when they finally stopped their horses in front of a neat building, which carried the sign of _Slabtown´s Tavern_. Those who knew nothing about the city´s history might have been confused about it. But it happened that Jin read some article in the Denver´s newspapers, concerning the rapid growth of the city, so he knew that quite ugly ´Slabtown´ title was the previous name of the place, before it was renamed to ´Leadville´. The pub was not located on the main street, the building was almost the last one in a dark alley; there was only darkness of the wild behind it. It seemed to be one of the older buildings in the city, but well kept.

Jin followed the example of his companions and dismounted, tying the reins to the long wooden rail in front of the spacious veranda. The two guys disappeared somewhere behind the tavern, along with the heavy bags, which they didn´t let out of their sight even for a minute for the whole time they had travelled. Ryo gestured Jin to go inside, to follow Esler who went there first, while the other guy remained behind Jin´s back.

As they entered, Jin was flooded with heavy odor of tobacco smoke. The air was resonating with loud conversations and bright light of the kerosene lamps hanging on the long ropes from the ceiling was flooding each table. The taproom was full and the atmosphere cheerful.

Some customers raised their heads and greeted the passing group or just waved at them, before they went back to their beers, whiskey and cards.

“Welcome back, boys,” an old barkeep leaning over the counter greeted them. “I suppose you´re thirsty…”

Ryo had almost hugged the counter nodding excited, before a firm voice of his superior brushed the guy´s intentions off right away.

“Later, old man. Is he there?” Cullen asked.

“Yes,” the man, whose hair turned completely white already, nodded, not paying attention to the cold tone, probably more than used to it. “He had arrived about half an hour ago.”

“Good, let´s deal with this right away then,” Esler decided and mercilessly dragged Ryo away from the full tankard. “He is _your_ responsibility, so you´re coming along.”

Jin decided not to  comment on it. He didn´t want to reveal how much he was already annoyed with Cullen Esler´s attitude, as the behaved like that all the way, speaking about him as like of a burden, or in the best case ignoring Jin as if he was never there. It was clear that the older man was more careful and suspicious than the others.

Esler led their way through the rest of the taproom to the back, where Jin spotted some door in the shadow only when they were just a meter away. A muscular and formidable man standing next to them nodded his head seeing them coming, but stepped into Jin´s path as soon as he noticed the guy, staring at him in a not friendly way.

Jin backed off carefully, more than aware that with muscles like those, which could be seen under the man´s shirt, he would have lost at least a few teeth if anything would go wrong. It was Ryo who prevented that from happening, as he approached the mountain of muscles hastily.

“Slow down, man,” the black-eyed one forced himself between Jin and the guard.

“It´s all right, Benny,” Cullen cut in as well. “He is our guest. For now.”

The mentioned guard was still frowning, but he stepped aside to let them go through. With chills on his back Jin followed Esler inside to the narrow room, which was very poorly lit in comparison with the taproom. Two men and to Jin´s surprise even one woman were sitting at the table in the middle, talking over the pile of newspapers, when they came in.

“Cullen!” one of the men welcomed them. “You´re back!”

“Yeah,” the man murmured stopping in his steps close to the table.

The woman was the first one to notice a stranger and she pierced Jin with almond shaped eyes, which went a little wider. Jin´s view was partially covered by Esler, so he didn´t notice the fourth person in the room, until the last one spoke.

“Any troubles?”

That voice was so familiar to Jin, that despite it being deeper, he recognized it.

“No, all the bags were there. The boys already took them to the back,” Cullen answered the question.

“Great…”

“Though, we came across this one fellow…” Cullen continued. “You have a guest, Leo.”

“Huh? Whom?”

“Well… He claims to be your brother,” the man snorted and stepped aside, pulling Jin closer to the light.

Only then Jin could finally see the youngster sitting in the front of the table. When the dark eyes focused on his face, he held his breath without knowing it. There was a surprise and then a shine of something what Jin didn´t recognize. He wanted to say something, but he couldn´t force his mouth to open.

The young man´s hair was scruffy, and loosely cut, his deep eyes serious. There was a hint of dark stubble under his nose and his pose was firm, the body well-built and seemed strong. Two years older, and changed, but he was still Jin´s younger brother. Something eased up inside him when he saw the guy well and alive, but he still got somewhat anxious about what to say or do.

The deep silence fell onto the room; the others at the table glanced over both their faces and at each other, surprised about the unexpected visitor. Esler remained at Jin´s side, with his hand placed at the gun belt, while Ryo was waiting behind, curiously comparing the faces of the two.

Finally, Jin gulped down and took a breath to break the silence, but the younger one did it first.

“I´ve never seen him before.”

That thunderstruck Jin and left him staring at his brother in disbelief. Ryo stepped closer, obviously confused, while Esler drew his gun swiftly.

“I knew it,” he snorted, aiming it at Jin. “A little swindler, huh?”

“Hey, wait a sec!” Jin overcame his numbness and leant over the table, so hard it creaked as it moved closer to the young leader, whose facial features didn´t move even an inch.

“One more move and you´re dead,” Esler informed him threateningly, with the heavy revolver pointed at Jin´s head.

But Jin didn´t pay attention to the man, looking directly at his brother.

“So you don´t know me anymore just after the two years? Can you even hit something when your eyes are so bad?” he exclaimed angrily.

Leo didn´t reply and kept staring at him blankly. Even the other men were already standing, ready with their guns, just the woman at his brother´s left studied the younger one instead of the stranger and Ryo kept his distance as well.

“What do you want me to do with him, Leo?” Cullen asked harshly, obviously ready to do anything what would have been said in a blink of an eye.

Jin was so dumbfounded about why Leo denied knowing him that he was not even a little afraid. Despite that there were already three revolvers threatening his life.

Suddenly, the stiff expression at Leo´s face broke and in the next second he was laughing so hard that he almost fell off his chair.

Everybody stared at the young leader with a clear confusion all over their faces, including Esler. Just the brunette still sitting at Leo´s side didn´t seem to be surprised about the outburst.

“You should…” Leo almost choked at the words, as he was still laughing. “You should see your face just now, Brother…”

Jin didn´t move or said anything, glaring at his so-much-fun-having little sibling.

“So… He is…” Ryo started, figuring out the real situation first.

“Damn right he is,” Leo confirmed, leaning into this chair comfortably, the cheerful smile still playing at his lips. “I would have never expected such a visitor today, dear Bro…”

Jin moved and went around the table so fast, that he was at the younger one´s side sooner than anyone managed to react and stop him. In the next moment the gunmen were helpless witnesses, as Jin captured his brother from behind, squeezing his neck angrily, while Leo started laughing again.

“You think this is so funny, little Brother?” Jin hissed, while the younger one didn´t put up any defense against his grip. “They might have killed me, damn it!”

“Come on… It was… such a fun…” Leo reacted a little breathless already. Only when he noticed that all barrels in the room were aiming at his brother´s head, he finally remembered to clear the things up for them as well. “Calm down, guys, put those guns away.”

The member of Riders slowly lowered their weapons, the amused smiles appearing on their faces, when Jin finally let Leo go, but didn´t forget to smack him over the head.

“Idiot,” he scolded the younger one, who didn´t seem to mind that though.

“He really is my dearest brother,” Leo assured them, not even a little offended, as he stood up from his chair and faced Jin. He was almost as tall as his older sibling now, but still a bit shorter. “He really is…” Leo repeated seriously, the amusement slowly disappearing from his face. “I´m glad to see you, Jin…”

Then Jin gave in to his relief and happiness and grabbed Leo into a bear hug, which the younger one repaid firmly.

“It´s good to see you in one piece, little one…” he murmured into the younger´s ear.

“I´m not so little anymore, you know?” Leo replied, his voice suddenly hoarse.

“Yeah, I see…” Jin pulled away, observing his brother once again from close. Leo was right; an adult was standing in front of him now.

“So… This was just a joke?” it was Esler who raised the question, his face a perfect example of cold composure, but with his eyes shining in a strange way. “A joke?” he repeated.

“Sorry, Cullen,” Leo shrugged not very apologetically. “I couldn´t help it…”

“I should have expected something like that…” Jin murmured, while Ryo approached visibly upset Esler.

“Come on, man, you know Leo…”

“Yes. I do,” Esler snorted. “I will be at the bar,” he decided then and marched off.

“You´re still like a kid sometimes,” the woman sitting with her long legs crossed sighed.

“And you love me for that,” Leo replied with a smile, which obviously belonged only to the brunette.

Before she could have replied something, Leo turned to the others.

“Everyone, I have a request…” the men stood there silent, waiting for the order. “Bring some beers in, so we can celebrate my brother´s arrival!”

“Finally!” Ryo was the first one to react enthusiastically. “You´re the best boss, Leo!”

He was out of the door in no time, while the rest sat around the table again, one of them dragging a spare chair for the older Akanishi.

Jin was already calm, but still he would have rather preferred to talk with his brother privately.

“Leo…” he started uncertain if it was really a good idea to start their reunion with drinking.

The younger one just looked at him seriously, and as if he wondered about the same, he shook his head slowly.

“I know, but… Later, Jin, all right? We will talk later…”

***

 

“It stiiings…” a young man´s voice interrupted the peace on the shore of a small stream, which was one of many burbling its way down from the Horsetooth Mountain.

“Man up a bit, will you?” there was a strict response from the other youngster, who was treating the first one´s quite ugly but not live-threatening injuries. “If you want to enjoy some nice infection, I can always stop.”

The noisy blonde stopped flinching under the touch of the cloth watered with the strong disinfector, with which Kame cleaned the deep cuts on his arms and legs.

“Just hurry up… I´m freezing,” Koki murmured, biting into this lower lip, trying hard to stay still under the treatment.

“It´s not that cold over here,” the younger one informed him, with his eyes focused gradually on each injury, trying to figure out if any of them might be dangerous.

“It´s easy to say for you! You´re clothed!”

“You´re not naked,” Kame reacted calmly.

The former captive huffed unsatisfied. Koki was in his underwear only, so that Kame could reach his injuries. He intentionally chose a sunny spot to stop and do this, but the other one didn´t seem to appreciate it much anyway.

“You´re unexpectedly cruel, handsome,” Koki complained, eyeing him indignantly.

Kame sighed. This guy was much more difficult to deal with than Jin, when it came to the wounds. Jin was a whining type as well, but only in certain cases, when… Kazuya frowned and stopped his thoughts from continuing. Thinking about the young gunslinger only made Kame miss him more.

“It´s almost done,” he said, scolding himself for being so distracted. “None of them is too serious. You should be fine.”

“Fine?” Koki repeated. “It hurts like hell! They definitely knew what they were doing….”

Kame threw the dirty cloths aside, hiding the disinfector as well, and handing the guy over his shirt.

“Do you mean Grenet and Cameron?”

“Yeah…” the other one nodded gloomily and hastily put the clothes on. “Especially that fucker Grenet. He´s a real son of a bitch.”

“I can only agree,” Kame reacted silently. “Be glad he didn´t proceed to ripping your nails off.”

“Ripping of nails?” Koki exclaimed, forgetting about pulling his trousers up.

Kame kept quiet, not really willing to discuss the topic.

“Just how do you know those men?” the older one asked shocked.

“More than I would like to,” Kame replied and straightened up.

He took the water bottle and descended to the stream, to get some fresh water. He felt the other´s curious look on his back, but Koki hesitated with more questions.

“Thank you, Kame,” he said instead, already fully clothed. “It feels better now.”

“Glad to hear that,” Kame nodded and gave him the bottle to drink from. “What did you do to make them so pissed at you?” he asked, to avoid any possible questions related to torture.

“Well… I think it will be better if you don´t know…” Koki answered hesitantly. “Not that I don´t trust you, just…”

“It´s all right,” Kame said. “I don´t want to involve myself in anything unnecessary anyway.”

He went to Ukushi to check on her saddle, to prepare her for the next journey. He had already managed to return the borrowed horse, and they didn´t have time to hang around.

 

“Well… Where are you heading, if I might ask?” Koki spoke, when he stood up slowly, trying if his legs were firm enough.

“Denver,” Kame replied and turned to him. “You?”

“Well, a little further, but we have a common way,” Koki reacted smiling. “So, in case you would not mind my company for a little longer…”

“Not a problem,” Kame shrugged. “It´s just that we should…”

“Hurry?” Koki completed the sentence. “I´m all in,” he grinned reaching for the bridle of his horse.

“If you feel you can´t manage…” Kame observed Koki´s careful movements.

“Oh, you´re worried about me, that´s cuuute,” the other guy reacted teasingly.

Kame stared at the older one, not saying another word.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn´t mean it in a bad way,” Koki laughed. “You have magical hands, handsome. We can surely continue. I´m in a rush as well…”


	4. Queen City

**E** ach tiny drop sparkled shortly during its fall, before it reached the half-frozen ground with a soft splashing sound, creating an atmosphere of rain despite the morning sky up above Leadville was crystal blue.  The warm beams melting the hoarfrost covering the needles on trees all around were the cause of that beautiful natural shower.

The sun, which bobbed up on the sky an hour ago and soothed the still sleeping city with its early spring power, had already also touched the spacious balcony of Slabtown´s Tavern. The wooden platform with high railing was facing the woods behind the back yard of the building, and because of that it was hidden from of any curious glances from the street.

A pretty woman entered the balcony, carrying a plate with two tall glasses of water, and two mugs for coffee, which was hidden in the huge kettle made of strong ceramics. She placed everything on the small table and walked away, leaving the two young black-haired men, who were very similar to each other, alone again.

The Akanishi brothers kept their silence for a little while longer, before the younger of them reached out for the kettle and poured the steaming liquid into the both mugs.

“Thanks,” Jin nodded gratefully, taking one cup from the table to warm his cold and numb hands a little. The coffee was hot, strong and very good.

Everybody else was sleeping in the room downstairs, just under the balcony where the two brothers settled themselves, after even Ryo lost his fight against tiredness and started snorting faintly in his chair, with his head laying on the table. The bar was closed, as the owner of the tavern hadn´t get up yet either, so it was Leo´s girlfriend, as Jin had assumed about the woman to be the one, who prepared some early kick off for them, and not commenting on their decision to sit outside, wrapped in their coats.

The drams and beer they had drunk during the welcome party had already lost almost all its effect in the freezing morning and the coffee cleared their minds a bit as well. It was a long and fun night. Jin was introduced to all the present companions of his brother; they drank a lot and laughed even more, but in an unspoken agreement they all carefully avoided any serious subject for discussion.

The brothers were now finally alone, but somehow neither Jin nor Leo knew how to start, so they were sitting in silence, observing the awakening nature.

“It´s been a long time…” it was the younger one, who spoke first in the end, keeping his voice as neutral as it was possible.

“Yeah, more than two years…” Jin agreed feeling a hint of sadness. Somehow he really regretted losing those years in the life of his sibling. For him, it was still the same Leo, that young man sitting next to him, but he had changed more than Jin would have expected. The younger one was no longer that stubborn boy, whom he knew before…

“So… You came to scold me just like the last time?” Leo asked half-joking, half-serious. “It turned out to be just as you said, didn´t it?”

“No…” Jin frowned a little. “I came because I was worried.”

“You saw the poster then?” the younger brother asked, staring at the surface of his coffee.

“It´s kind of impossible to overlook them,” the older Akanishi informed him. “They are in each city, little Brother, and attracting quite an attention with that ridiculously high reward.”

“Also eager for my head now?” Leo asked with a strange smirk.

Jin´s coffee lost its taste after he heard that remark.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” he snapped at the younger one.  “You are my family in case you forgot!”

Leo´s grin changed into a small smile.

“Just kidding, Brother…”

“It´s not funny!” Jin was still pissed. “They put a price on _your life_ in the value of three-thousand dollars; am I supposed to be amused by that?!”

“Sorry…” Leo pushed the empty mug away and seemed to be a little down.

Jin observed his face closely for a long while. His little brother was older and all grown up, that was true, but at that moment he could see in him the boy from four years ago – lost and also a little scared.

“Even if I disagree with what you do, I would have never betrayed you, Leo,” he stated in a serious tone, waiting for Leo to raise his eyes to him. “No matter what.”

“Glad to hear that,” the younger one reacted quietly.

“What did you expect, damn it?” Jin murmured, honestly surprised with the brother´s humble reaction.

“I don´t know…” Leo said slowly. “Why did you come, Jin?”

“I´ve told you I…” Jin stopped talking under the expecting stare of his sibling. He sighed and poured more coffee from the kettle for both of them. “I want to help you, little one,” he stated in the end.

A hint of pure joy ran across Leo´s face.

“You´re serious?” he asked tensely.

“Of course!” Jin confirmed almost offended. “In any way I can!”

“You´ll stay then?” Leo leant closer, shifting in his armchair excited.

That caught Jin unprepared. The younger one was suddenly so eager, his face brightened up and he just couldn´t let down that expectation he saw in his eyes. He didn´t know in exactly what situation Leo was yet, the men around him were unpredictable strangers, and there were still too many unanswered questions, but who cared, when there was his younger brother, who needed him.

“You bet I will stay,” Jin nodded smirking. “Somebody must watch over you.”

“I don´t need a baby sitter,” Leo pouted just like he used to do when he was younger.

“I can imagine you don´t… What about a caring older brother then?”

“Sounds good,” Leo repaid his grin.

“I would have smacked you if you said anything else,” Jin huffed. “But first, you must tell me what was going on with you these past two years and…”

“I know,” the younger one interrupted him, also serious again. “You have some questions, right?”

“That´s quite an understatement,” Jin reacted.

“I´m more than willing to answer them, but… It´s not only up to me, Jin. I have to talk with others first.”

Jin was not very happy to hear that; it was obvious that the other guys would not trust him so easily. But it seemed there was no other way.

“Can you be a bit more patient?” Leo asked.

“I will try…” Jin murmured. “You know I´m not good at it.”

“I do,” Leo nodded amused and reached for his coffee.

Jin did the same and they both sipped on the warm liquid again. The tension between them eased up a lot and both guys felt much more relaxed. The air started warming up as well, and the sun continued higher on its way.

“Did you hear about Karnaka?” there was a sudden question from the younger one, in a silent and somewhat dark voice. Jin glanced at him curiously. “That he died during the fire on his farm some months ago?” Leo added.

“Well,” Jin leant into his armchair more comfortably. “I heard,” he confirmed calmly.

“Aren´t you pissed?” Leo asked confused, when he noticed Jin´s satisfied expression.

“Why would I be?” the older brother raised his eyebrows.

“That he died before…” the younger one didn´t finish the sentence, but Jin did it instead.

“Before I carried out my revenge for our parents and Pi? But I did, little Bro…”

“So that fire was your work?” the younger one asked with his eyes widened.

“Yeah,” Jin nodded. “My and… of a few friends.”

“Friends… Wait, you mentioned Yamapi right now. Did _he_ help you with this?”

A painful pinch in his chest pretended Jin from replying right away. It was such a long time and he still missed his dear friend.

“No… He´s dead,” he somehow managed to force himself to say that bad news aloud.

“Damn… I´m sorry, Jin…” Leo shook his head regretfully. “What happened?”

“That would take a while… Maybe later, all right?”

“No problem,” the younger brother didn´t intend to press Jin on the topic. “Did Karnaka suffer at least?” he asked after a short silence, more quietly.

“Yes. We… we let him burn to death,” Jin admitted slowly.

“I hope he still burns in Hell…” there was a hateful reaction from the younger one.

“You can bet on that,” Jin assured him.

“How did you do it?” Leo wondered. “I had heard that the farm was more like a fortress, it was supposed to be impossible to get inside.”

“As I said, I had help,” Jin answered the curious question shortly, suddenly remembering the smell of burning furniture, the noises of cracking flames and the slim shaking body clinging to his own right after they managed to escape the hungry fire… He gulped the rest of his coffee down hastily, shaking the vivid memories off.

“I´d love to get to know those friends of yours then,” Leo stated quite amazed.

“Maybe you will…” Jin smiled faintly.

“We should definitely drink to your victory,” the younger one suggested after a moment.

“I will not argue,” the older Akanishi reacted with an amused smile. “But first we should eat something, don´t you think?”

“Aah, right! Brother, let me invite you for the best breakfast feast in Colorado,” Leo stood up, suddenly very lively. “I´m sure that Jane is already back from the shop and _nobody_ can make better scrammed eggs than her.”

“Sometimes, you must tell me just where _you_ found a woman like her,” Jin teased the younger one, as he followed him inside. “What does she find so interesting in such a brat?”

“Oh, don´t be jealous, Jinny…” Leo mocked him back. “It doesn´t fit you.”

Jin just murmured something while going down the stairs behind his brother. It was quite almost strange to hear that nickname, which nobody else but Leo used.

The younger one was right in a way; Jin really was jealous, but from a very different reason than his brother thought… He envied him that Leo had his loved one by his side…

***

 

“It is… impressive,” Kame commented the view, which was slowly opening in the distance.

“This is nothing; just wait until you walk the streets in the center. One must be careful not to be run over by some of those expensive carriages,” the blonde one warned him, as if he knew all about the city, before he stopped his stallion at the small crossroad created by the narrow path, which cut across the main road. “Well… I´d love to spend some free time there with you, handsome, but unfortunately I can´t,” the older guy said with an obvious disappointment in his voice.

Kame turned Ukushi a little to face Koki directly.

“Going your way then?”

“Yeah, and it won´t be a short one to travel…” the other rider murmured. “Anyway, I´m more than happy I _can_ go my way, so… Thank you for helping me once again, Kame,” Koki reached out his hand towards him, which the younger one accepted for a firm grip. “It was a great pleasure to meet you. And I don´t forget my debts, so if there is a chance…”

“I will remember you,” Kame reacted nodding. “Just be careful not to get caught again.”

“No need to worry about that. After this experience, I will be super-watchful,” the blonde guy assured him confidently.

“Let´s hope it will be enough…” the younger one stated a little gloomily, remembering more than well how much troubles those two men were able to bring.

“ _You_ be on alert as well - bigger city means more thieves,” Koki winked leaning closer to him, again reminding Kame that he should have just shut up about Ukushi being stolen in Fort Collins.

“Thank you so much for warning me,” he reacted with a sigh, already kind of used to the other one´s teasing.

Koki patted Kame´s shoulder in a friendly way.

“You´re absolutely welcome,” he said almost laughing.

Then the older guy spurred his horse, raised his hand for a final parting wave and trotted off along the path, heading west, towards the mountains.

Kame followed the cheerful guy with his eyes for a short while, honestly hoping Koki would be all right; he was a little annoying, but a good guy. Then he turned towards his own destination, of which first houses could be already seen in front of him…

*

 

Mr. Barto from Fort Collins described it as an incredible city. Koki indicated the same. Neither of them overdid it with their statements. But they couldn´t have prepared Kame for the so-called ´ _Queen City of the Plains_ ´ in advance.

Being born in the mountainous area of Montana, spending most of his life among the Indians and just shortly residing in one usual small city of the Wild West, which Bozeman was, he could have never imagined what Denver would be.

The rails of Denver Pacific Company led Kame to undoubtedly the biggest and most crowded place he had ever visited. The capital of the State of Colorado was rapidly growing just twenty miles away from the foot of the Rocky Mountains, which peaks could be fairly seen on the horizon.

First he passed around the pastures, which were barely awakening from winter, but already full of impatient cattle, and also the huge fields for corn and wheat; empty but definitely fertile; the small houses of farmers and barracks for mines´ workers. But soon the main road branched out into many smaller streets; the wooden buildings were replaced with the stone ones and even made of bricks. The houses grew bigger after each crossroad Kame passed, until, to his astonishment he counted six floors at one of them.

Kame passed around each district in silent amazement, as there were not just houses anymore, there were beautiful mansions, painted in various colors and decorated with incredible garden statues. Only when he noticed the strange sound under Ukushi´s hooves, he saw that the road was paved with the hundreds of little stones to make the ride on it more comfortable. In his awe, Kame almost failed to avoid the carriage dragged by four stallions, which passed around him with its coachman shouting rudely at his carelessness.

He was already impressed by the neatness of the Fort Collins streets. But Denver was not only big and lively; it was rich. Mr. Barto told him that many famous millionaires came to live in the city, building up their mansions there, but to see it with his own eyes was something different.

There were almost more shops than customers, tons of saloons and pubs, the hotels which looked like some palaces out of fairy tales. There was even a half-white half-brown building with more windows than Kame could count, which carried a ´ _Tabor Opera House_ ´ sign bigger than Ukushi above its entrance.

Kame continued passing through that incredible place so awestruck that it took him quite a while before he noticed that he became a center of the citizens´ attention. But there wasn´t much curiosity in their glances - gentlemen in tail-coats and women in dresses so richly it was a miracle they could bear the weight stared at the young rider with arrogance and disgust.

Kazuya was honestly confused about it, not knowing what he had done wrong; until he realized that in comparison with the Denver citizens his outfit seemed quite… shabby. After the long trip it was worn out and dirty, but Kame didn´t really think about it until he saw all those anxiously clean people with strange or overly decorated hats on their heads. He entered this different world unprepared for what was a natural part of it and he had to look like a beggar there.

Ignoring the stares as best as he could, Kame focused on the road, trying to find anything that might help him locate the Blake Street in this labyrinth. After a while, he had decided it would be better to ask for a correct direction than wander around without a goal. Dismounting Ukushi he spotted a young girl, which was dressed as a servant, going somewhere with a heavy basket. As one of very few she didn´t seem in a rush to somewhere, so Kame approached her carefully, leading Ukushi behind him, holding the bridle firmly, as he was afraid the mare might have get startled by something unexpected.

“Excuse me, Miss, may I ask you something?”

The girl looked at the young stranger alarmed, her eyes scanning his clothes and then his animal companion. She smiled a little at the sight of Ukushi, before looking back at Kame more kindly.

“How can I help you, Mister?”

“Could you please advise me, where is the Blake Street?”

“Oh, it´s a little further. Keep going straight on this street,” the girl showed him the correct direction. “You have to cross a small river. There will be a park on your right hand and once you see the red colored saloon, you are already at the Black Street.”

“It´s not far, I assume…”

“Not really, just a few minutes´ walk,” the girl confirmed. “I have to go now, so… Have a nice day, Mister.”

“You too, Miss. And thank you!”

*

 

Fortunately, Kame found the right place quite quickly. Maybe it was even faster than he had expected, as his heart started to beat harder at the sight of the red walls of the Blake Street Saloon, which dominated the location. Just the idea of that he might meet with Jin again made him foolishly excited. But it was better to keep his expectations down; who knew what might have happened during that time and where Jin was at the moment. Knowing the older one, Kame seriously doubted that the young gunman would have sat on his ass waiting patiently. He was probably furiously searching for any tracks, which would lead him to his younger brother.

After Kame passed the narrow bridge across the cheerfully running stream, he stopped Ukushi close the big wooden board, where many various announcements and posters were displayed. Naturally, Kame didn´t care much about the news related to the upcoming elections or the recruitment of new workers for the mines. He paid attention only to the wanted posters, which were pinned right on the top, one next to the other, with more or less detailed pictures of the criminals on the run.

As always, there was the already familiar face of Leo Akanishi. The reward hadn´t risen up since the first time the posters were issued, even though this one was obviously printed quite recently. Not like in the other towns though, there was an additional announcement informing about the big group of gunmen around Akanishi, whose names and faces were unknown and a small reward was offered for any information which might have led to their capture.

It was not for the first time when Kame found this quite strange. The leader of Black Riders, basically the most important figure in the gang, was exposed like this, while none of the others, nobody from his subordinates, had his face known to the Marshals, who were after them along with the bounty hunters. Weren´t the others supposed to protect the one who led them?

Moreover, there was mentioned something, what Kame didn´t know about yet. The poster said that the Riders had been recently very active around Denver, especially along the roads to Colorado Springs and Leadville and Glenwood Springs. There was an urgent warning for all travelers and merchants to be prepared and hire some guards or soldiers for protection of their goods.

Kame had to admit that the gang had a quite wide scope in their reach – the described area included the wide part of the mountainous area. Inciting Ukushi to move further on the road towards the saloon, he pondered what Jin might have done with this piece of information…

The Blake Street Saloon building was not originally painted red, but the dark brown color faded in time so now it seemed that way. Kame firmly tied Ukushi´s reins around the railing, checking the surrounding a few times, considering a few obviously decent ladies enjoying some tea on the veranda as a sufficient charge-free guard. He couldn´t have brought his mare inside anyway.

Patting Ukushi across the blowholes gently first, to assure her he would be back, Kame took his bags and headed to the small entrance. The saloon had been obviously standing there for a longer time than those monstrously rich houses and hotels, but it was defending its good position proudly, not seeming to be poor of customers.

Right behind the door there was a dark-red partition wall, conveniently covering the room from the draft and noises from outside, when the entrance was opened. Only when Kame went around it, the view on the main hall opened in front of him.

The space was huge and divided into two parts. There was a dark and almost empty bar on his right hand; he noticed only one dark figure in the distant corner. On his left, there was some kind of a counter with the big window, some chairs and also the wide stairway up. The counter was described as ´Reception´ and just as Kame headed towards it, a sturdy woman in dark blue dress appeared behind it, her long hair properly tied on the top of her head. It was as if she knew somebody came in and despite her strict appearance, she smiled at Kame as he approached her with a greeting.

“Good afternoon to you, too! How can I help you?”

“Well, I´m looking for someone…” Kame took a deep breath. “He is supposed to be accommodated in your establishment. His name is Jin Akanishi.”

The woman´s smile disappeared as she eyed him suspiciously.

“We do not usually provide any information about our guests…”

“I´m his friend, Madame. He sent me a telegram to meet with him here,” Kame continued pleadingly.

“His friend, you say? What´s your name?”

“Kamenashi.”

The woman hesitated for a while, before she searched for something in the drawer under the desk.

“Let´s see… Where it was… Aah, here,” she unfolded something, with Kame waiting anxiously. “Tell me what the name of his horse is,” the receptionist looked at him in cool expectation.

“It´s Kuro,” Kame replied calmly, glad that Jin thought about something like this.

“Correct,” the woman said glancing at the paper. “Great. Since you are his friend, I´m sure you will be fine with covering his expenses.”

“Excuse me?” Kame asked surprised.

“That young mister already owes us for two nights,” the receptionist said not very happily. “He promised to come back, but I hadn´t seen him since he left three days ago, leaving most of his belongings here, along with this note with the security question in case anyone would come asking after him.”

A hint of fear awoke inside Kame´s heart, but he suppressed it immediately.

“Did he say where he intended to go?”

“No, sorry, young man; he was not very talkative,” the woman complained a little. “Polite and nice, that´s true. We accommodate only decent people, you know? But Mr. Akanishi was very closed up person. No wonder with a family like that…”

“Pardon me?” that remark surprised Kame even more.

“Didn´t you see the posters?” the receptionist shook her head, leaning over the counter familiarly. “So young and already a murderer… A distant relative, he said.”

“Oh…” Kame was glad that he didn´t ask directly about the person, as he would have definitely used a ´brother´ term. “You mean that leader of Black Riders…”

“Of course! And they look so alike, don´t you think?”

“I suppose…” Kame reacted hesitantly, not very willing to discuss the topic further with this talkative woman. “Well, didn´t he leave any message at least?”

“Nothing except the security question,” the receptionist said. “So… What will it be, Mr. Kamenashi? My boss is not very happy about the debt, and I need to make my living as well, I´m sure you understand…”

“Can I get into his room?” Kame asked, thinking that maybe he could find something in there…

“Only if you will cover those costs,” the receptionist insisted. “And pay for two more nights in advance,” she added stubbornly. “For the troubles.”

Kame suppressed a sigh; it seemed useless to argue with this woman. She was nice at the first sight, but also quite clever.

“I understand; I will cover it, Madame.”

 

During his conversation with Mrs. April, as the woman introduced herself, Kame didn´t care about those few guests, who were occupying the bar. But one of them paid the young traveler much more attention than was necessary, observing Kame with a suspicious and somehow calculative look in the dark eyes…

*

 

Kame felt a strange nostalgia entering the room on the second floor. It was two-beds and cozy and… just as messy as Jin´s room always used to be in Harada´s Saloon. There was some of his clothes threw over the bed sheets, pile of old newspapers on the window sill, dirty mug on the table and box with his precious guitar leaning on the wall.

Kazuya closed the door behind himself, with his stomach clutched. It was undeniably Jin´s place, but without the guy´s presence it felt awfully empty. He left his stuff on the floor next to the door, slipped from his coat and sat down on the unmade bed with a heavy sigh.

Three days… Such a short time to catch up and they might have already been together. Instead, he could only worry about what might have happened to the older one.

 _No, worrying will not help me right now…_ Kame scolded himself.

He had to think like Jin… What would the other one do after he arrived here? He definitely kept searching for Leo, probably keeping watches along the roads which were mentioned on the posters. He might have come across his sibling or the other Riders and was with them now. But how to figure out where?

Kame didn´t even think much about the other possibilities, like that Jin might have been hurt or…

He sighed again and let himself lie down. It felt so nice to be able to have some rest; his journey was really very long… Ukushi was taken care of in the saloon´s stables, so maybe he could sleep for a while, gain some strength back and think about what to do later. Especially when it was so comfortable in that bed, warm and soft and smelling a little like… Jin. Even though Kame had a suspicion that he had imagined that, just because he missed the older one so much…


	5. Encounters

**S** imply put, Leadville could have been described as one huge silver camp. But in that case it was the craziest camp Jin had ever seen. The dirty pubs sharing space on one street with the luxurious saloons and hotels; the rich houses standing in neighborhood of the poorest sheds of those, who searched for wealth unsuccessfully so far; the ladies anxious about not getting their dresses dirty, walking past the colorful frontage of whorehouses, which verandas were occupied by the harlots offering their services shamelessly; the streets overcrowded with carts and carriages, but also with horses´ shit and old newspapers.

The valuable mineral, which was the very reason of the current steady flow of immigrants to the city, was included in every business, in every conversation, in every robbery. Leadville was growing up and spreading too fast and too wildly to be controlled.

It took Jin hell a lot of time to find a building of Post Office in that early morning chaos. He discovered it at the crossroads of two shady streets consisting of many small houses, which were built quite close to each other.

The young gunslinger was in a hurry, as he wanted to get back to the tavern before his small _walk to get some fresh air_ would have been noticed as suspicious; so he entered the building quite relieved.

The Leadville´s telegrapher was kind of unusual as well. The man was sitting in the spacious office, which was brimming over with dozens of sealed packages and boxes. The man´s boots rested unmannerly on the table, which was supposed to be a place for letters and the telegraph machine only.

This post office employee was reading the latest newspaper, when Jin entered, and he turned his attention to the young stranger only lazily, eyeing him from head to toes.

“What do you want?” he asked annoyed.

 _Well, that is some attitude towards a customer_ , Jin thought.

“To send a telegram, please,” he replied calmly.

“What?” the man snorted.

“This is a post office, right? That thing on your table works?” Jin asked, starting to get a little pissed off.

“Yeah, it does,” the postman folded the newspaper down.

“Fine. I want to send a telegram then,” Jin repeated his request frowning.

The man stood up from his chair, as if it was the most troublesome thing in the world, and took a paper with pen from the shelf above his head.

“So? Where to?” he asked rudely. “I don´t have a whole day for this, kid.”

“Denver, Blake Street Saloon,” the upset gunslinger hissed, determined not to give to the ill-bred man even a cent above the necessary prize.

*

 

Jin was on his way back, walking in the middle of the street slowly, smoking a cigarette, and not really aware of the happenings around him, as he was lost in his thoughts.

He pondered if Kame had already arrived to Denver or not, and if his telegram would even reach him, especially with that fucking lazy telegrapher. He had no idea what was happening with the younger one during those long winter months and the longer their separation took, the gloomier Jin turned. It would have been really good if Kame had managed to catch up with him sooner than he would be forced to move away from the place again.

“Ah! Here you are!”

Jin was almost at the tavern, when the cheerful voice reached to him. It was Ryo, who almost bumped into the walking guy, throwing his arm around Jin´s shoulders.

“Will you help me a little, Big Akanishi?” the black-haired one requested pleadingly.

“With what?” Jin mumbled, shaking the other´s hand off.

“I need to make some shopping before we leave and it´s annoying to do it alone. They always make me run all over the city as their servant…” Ryo huffed annoyed. “I will show you around while we are at it, will you come with me? Pretty please…”

“All right,” Jin shrugged. “I don´t have anything better to do anyway… But what do you mean by _leaving_?”

“Leo has just decided; we leave the city tomorrow,” the young Rider informed Jin. “He will talk to you later, I bet. Come on, we have a lot of errands…”

Jin let Ryo to drag him along, sinking into even more pessimistic mood thanks to the information he had just received. Everything was happening too quickly…

***

 

To his frustration, there was not much Kame could do.

He went through the newspapers, which Jin had left behind. The articles about the Black Rider were marked in all of them, but there was nothing more specific about their location. Among Jin´s short scribbled notes he didn’t find anything what would give him a clue in which direction the older one focused his search. He seriously doubted it would have made much sense to wander around the city aimlessly, hoping that he would come across some clue.

In that last message, which Kame had received in Cheyenne, Jin asked him to meet in the Blake Street Saloon, so once he was there, he decided to hope Jin would come back soon and to wait for him. Though he was not sure for how long he would manage it…

The young traveler was almost out of cash now, after paying off the costs for the rent of the room. Not that the journey from the north would have been so expensive - most of the time he and Liwan managed to hunt or find something to eat - but Kame didn´t have much to begin with. Fortunately, he could allow himself to take a bath at the barber, whose business was located right opposite the saloon, as that was included in the prize of accommodation.

After washing and changing into his spare clothes, Kame took Ukushi and with more caution, but not less amazement, he set off to the walk through the whole busy city, searching for any boards with the wanted posters and also checking the walls of the Marshals Office, thinking that there might be something new.

But it was not his most successful day… Kame met many very interesting people, he saw awesome buildings and places, he even came across the street performers, who belonged to some famous circus, but he just couldn´t enjoy it while having no idea what was going on with his lover.

Kame knew that Jin was capable enough to take care of himself and there was no Karnaka with the legions of his gunmen around anymore, but still… Still…

***

 

It was almost impossible to stick onto the gloomy mood while Ryo was your companion. The guy seemed to have an incredible ability to smile cheerfully during situations, when Jin would have already taken his revolver out.

During their shopping, they talked a lot and Jin had found out that a smiling member of the Riders was just a few months younger than himself. Ryo was born in Sheridan, in Wyoming, where he had also met the other Riders for the first time.

Tired of no-benefit hard labor for a rich rancher, who was an employer of his whole family, he chose to join the group after some incident, which the guy didn´t mention specifically. He left behind both of his parents, two elder brothers and one sister. Ryo admitted missing them, but right after that he joked that once he would come back with the bag so full of money, that he would be able to buy all of them their own house, instead of that ruin they lived in. Jin would like to have such a positive attitude…

They were heading to the tavern, laughing over just another remark Ryo had made about them looking like thieves with all those bags and sacks over their shoulders. Only that this time – to Jin´s relief - they really paid for everything.

The inside of _Slabtown´s Tavern_ was a little cooler than the outside air, but that was not the reason, why Jin´s laughter died in his throat, once they went in. Instead, he felt chills on his back. A cause of it was the sight of all other Riders gathered around a table in the corner and their eyes focusing at him the second Jin stepped over the threshold.

Almost immediately, Jin knew something was wrong; his instinct could not be wrong in that. A heavy slam of the door closed behind them was a sufficient proof of that for him. The strong hands grabbing and yanking him roughly into the middle of the room were not necessary at all…

It was Cullen Esler, who took Jin´s revolver out of its holster and forced him to sit in a chair. Jin didn´t resist, somehow he felt it would not be a good idea at the moment. Because Leo was there as well, sitting on the edge of the table, hands resting over his knees and his look towards Jin was the total opposite of the one he gave him in the morning.

Ryo remained standing right in front of the door honestly confused, the bags they brought gathered at his feet.

“What the hell is going on now?!” Jin asked, barely suppressing the urge to defend himself against the rough treatment.

“You will be the one doing the explanations, boy… So watch your cocky mouth,” Culled hissed at him and pushed some piece of paper so close towards Jin´s face that the letters on it were only the blurry stains at first. But when he focused his eyes, he was able to read it…

 

**To: Kazuya Kamenashi, Denver, Blake Street Saloon**

**I FOUND BROTHER IN LEADVILLE STOP COME IF YOU CAN STOP JIN**

 

Jin didn´t say anything, just kept staring at the paper, painfully aware that it was never sent. So the telegrapher was not only a lazy dumbass, he was the Riders´ friend.

“What is this?!” the expression of the gunman standing above him was quite dangerous, so Jin realized he should not provoke him, but he needed some time to figure out how to explain this so that they would not shoot him on the spot.

“A telegram, I suppose,” he reacted, trying to stay calm.

The skin on Cullen´s face went red and he clenched his right hand into a fist. Jin had already almost felt the hard blow on his chin, but the movement never found its intended target. It was Leo, who stood up and stopped Cullen´s hand by grabbing him for the wrist. They exchanged a long stare, before the older man growled something and stepped back, while Leo remained in front of his older brother with an expression, which Jin didn´t like at all.

“Look, Leo…” he took a breath.

“Better think about what you´re going to say, Brother,” Leo interrupted him coldly. “You have only one chance to explain.”

Jin could see his brother was more than serious about what he said; he really needed to be careful and if possible honest at the same time.

“That message is for my friend, I´ve told you about him – he is the one who had helped me before, on Karnaka´s farm,” Jin explained slowly, aware of the hostile glances all around the room, but he focused his attention only on Leo. His brother was his only certainty now. “He couldn´t go to search for you with me right away, but he was supposed to follow me shortly after. I just wanted to let him know…”

“ _Your_ friend isn´t a friend to _us_ ,” Cullen snorted. “I can so imagine what you had planned. You wanted to reveal Leo´s location to some buddy of yours, wait for his arrival and then, once you will have your backup, to betray Leo!”

“That´s not true!” Jin denied immediately.

“Why did you want to send it secretly then?!” the older gunman confronted him.

Jin sighed heavily: “Exactly because of this… You do not trust me. I doubt you would have let me send it.”

“That´s exactly right! We are not stupid, Akanishi. Why do you think Leo is still free?” Cullen was the one talking, but it was obvious he had a support of everyone else.

“Because you are careful…” Jin reacted, holding onto his composure. “But I am careful in this as well! I would not send it to anyone whom I do not trust completely!”

“Do you realize that the telegraphists actually read those messages?!” the gunman asked him caustically.

“I do! That´s why I didn´t mention any name!” Jin burst out.

“That´s a bullshit!” upset Cullen folded the paper into the small ball and threw it away. “What you did was too dangerous for all of us!” then the man turned to his silent boss. “He is a traitor, Leo! You shouldn´t…!”

“That´s enough,” Leo cut into the Cullen´s angry speech surprisingly calm, observing his brother´s face closely. “Did you tell us the truth?” he asked slowly then.

“Of course, I did!” Jin assured him fiercely. “You know what I´ve told you, Leo! I´m on your side and I want to help you!”

“I wonder what that means in your case,” Cullen growled.

Jin didn´t pay any attention to the man; it would have been useless to try and persuade him about _anything_. But Leo was his younger brother, his family, and the only one who truly knew Jin.

“Leo… I know it´s difficult, but… You can trust me,” he stated firmly.

And to his relief, the younger Akanishi nodded slowly: “I do trust you, Brother.”

“Leo!” Cullen exclaimed. “You just don´t realize that he…”

“As I said,” the Riders´ leader ignored the man´s objections. “I trust you, Jin, but I cannot let you send that telegram. Cullen is right in this – I didn´t remain out of prison because I dared to be careless.”

The common murmur in the tavern agreed with him completely, only Cullen was obviously unsatisfied.

“We still have a lot to do, so let´s get back to packing up!” Leo announced, with which everyone went after their duties, nobody even glancing at Jin.

The older Akanishi remained sitting in his chair, making a lot of effort not to let his upset feeling show. Once again, he made the Riders distrust him. Just great… And what was more - he couldn´t let Kame know where he was… Damn it…

“You understand, right?” Leo asked slowly, when even Cullen left the taproom, after literally throwing Jin´s gun into his lap.

Jin repaid his younger brother´s glance and nodded wordlessly. He had a feeling that it would have turned out into an argument, if he said something at the moment.

“Fine. Help Ryo with the supplies, if you want… See you outside,” Leo left the room as well, in a fast pace.

Jin stood up from the chair, once he was alone. Then he turned and kicked the chair down to the floor with a loud thud. But it didn´t relieve his anger even a bit.

***

 

When Kame returned to Blake Street, it was already dark. The sun still kept hiding behind the horizon quite soon during this time of the year.

Tired and depressed, Kame thought that he deserved a warm dinner, at the least, even if it meant sacrificing his remaining money. So after he left his dear mare in a comfy stable, he headed to the pub part of the saloon´s ground floor. The place behind the reception counter was empty, but in contrary to the previous evening, the taproom was filled with many voices and clinging of glasses.

Kame ordered a beer and meal at the bar and searched for a vacant chair. There were only a few, and he chose the place where he could sit with his back to the wall. While waiting for his dinner, he scanned through all the faces in the saloon, noting there was a group of tired workers, three youngsters, who seemed to have their first beer in life, two farmers with their wives, some merchants in neat suits, a couple of armed strangers and solitary gunslingers, and in the middle of the room four surprisingly loud men in blue uniforms were seated.

It seemed that the soldiers had drunk a lot already and they were arguing about something, earning quite a few upset stares from the other customers. It could be easily assumed that the men were there without their superior, otherwise they wouldn´t have dared to behave so rudely.

Kame was served with a good-smelling beef steak, a plate of hot beans, a steamed corn and two slices of fresh bread. That was more than he had expected for the price and he buried his spoon into the beans hungrily.

“And I say it´s about time to put an end to those gangsters! Once for all, not matter what it takes!” the shouting of one drunk soldier made most of the taproom quiet.

“Now you said it, man!” the other one joined him.

“I´m amazed by how brave you are _now_ ,” another one snorted. “You were scared shitless under that bridge!”

“Don´t you dare to call me a coward!” the sturdy soldier roared. “I was not the one throwing my rifle away first!”

“But I´m not showing off how bravely I defended the carriage!”

“Hey, calm down, you two! Those were the Riders! They would have killed you otherwise!”

“Exactly,” the calmer of the two agreed. “And the Tabor´s silver is not worth of it.”

“You should watch your mouth!” the louder one snapped at him. “Do you wish for a bullet to your head?”

But the other soldier just rolled his eyes.

“Misters Soldiers, how many of them were there?” a young male servant bringing them more beers asked curiously.

“At least ten!” the sturdy one hit the table with the empty tankard. “All dressed in black, dark as crows…”

“Liar, they were only five…” his companion revealed the truth immediately.

“Shut up!!” the first one yelled with his face red.

“The moment of surprise was on their side; that was your doom,” the third one assumed gloomily.

“Are they as it is said? Merciless, armed from head to toes? Riding pitch black horses, which are the fastest on the Earth?” the boy continued asking.

“Where are you kids coming up with these tales?” the last and the oldest soldier shook his head, sipping on the new beer.

“Most of them are true,” one of his companions snorted.

By that time the whole saloon was listening to the soldiers´ conversation, including Kame who somewhat forgot to continue eating.

“They should have provided us some back-up,” the calmest soldier assumed. “There were already too many troubles with them…”

“Yes!” the loud one even stood up from his chair. “Where is the government, when our lives are threatened?!”

“You´re are the one who should just shut up now…” his colleague informed him.

“But we do wonder about the same thing,” one of the merchants raised his voice, while the other one was nodding seriously. “The government should do something about those gangsters already. Nobody wants to guard my carriages unless I paid them highly. This is ruining the business for everyone!”

“So _we will_ do something about it!” the soldier announced confidently. “Let´s organize a hunt after those cocky Riders!”

“And just how would you like to hunt them down, when we don´t know where they are?” another soldier asked him mockingly.

“We will prepare a trap! We will get them! Citizens of Denver! I – Captain of the thirty-seventh unit – promise that…!”

His older companion grabbed the man´s arm and made him sit down.

“You will get yourself into troubles and nothing more if you speak like that, idiot. You were not even promoted yet!”

The scolded soldiers stared into his tankard sulking quietly for the moment.

“Where did they ambush you, anyway?” the other merchant asked worriedly. “I expect some delivery tomorrow…”

“On the main connection with the Castle Rock,” the other soldier replied. “But it seems they operate pretty much everywhere… Last time it was west from the city, now they moved south…”

“They are damn annoying…” his louder colleague growled.

Kame had stopped listening to drunken blabbering and complaints for a while. He was thinking, completely forgetting about the already cooling meal in front of him.

If the group of Riders kept launching their ambushes on the roads around Denver, there were not so many places, where they could have had a safe hiding. They would have been too exposed close to the rushing city, if they were that impressive as it was said. So maybe they were hiding in the mountains? They could not be very far, to keep their convenient position, and the foot of the first hills of Rocky Mountains was pretty close.

“Did anyone try to chase after them?” it was the serving boy asking again.

“We were tied up, you little dumbass! How could we?” the drunken man snorted.

The boy squeezed the plate for tankards sheepishly.

“I mean, before…”

“Of course, of course!” the soldier proclaimed. “There is a damn big bunch of bounty hunters going after that crazy reward, which was written on Akanishi´s head!” he waved with his hand widely. “I bet that the third of you think you might catch him and grab the money for yourself!”

“It´s a damn shame nobody has been successful yet,” the other soldier murmured.

“Unfortunately not… But it´s only a matter of time before they make some mistake,” his older colleague stated his opinion.

That was really highly possible with all those soldiers and hunters coming after the gang; Kame just hoped that when the time comes and something really goes wrong, Jin will not be included in it…

With much less enthusiasm he finished his dinner, while the main bartender insisted on not serving any more beers unless the soldiers got quieter.

The taproom was gradually emptying, but the soldiers still sat in their seats, discussing something not so loudly anymore, but still obviously arguing. When the most talkative of them stood up and staggering a little headed outside, to the back, Kame took his chance, paid for the meal and rushed after the man.

He was right in assuming the soldier went for a piss, so he waited behind the corner till he was finished and set on his way back. Then Kame pretended to be on a rush from the inside and bumped into the man slightly.

“Oh! I´m very sorry, Mister.”

The drunkard focused his eyes at the young stranger only with big troubles.

“Watch your step, boy,” he warned him with a heavy tongue.

“Of course, I will be more careful…” Kame nodded diligently. “Though, it´s an honor to meet you personally.”

“How is that so?” the man asked surprised.

“I admire how you fight against those thieves and murderers, really. You are very brave,” Kame flattered the soldier easily.

“That I am!” the man sucked more air into his lungs, pushing his chest higher. “It´s our… duty to protect…!”

“I appreciate it a lot. That had to be quite a terrifying experience, to be ambushed out there.”

“We were outnumbered, you know,” the drunker reacted proudly. “Otherwise…”

“I fully understand, Mister… Would you mind telling me where exactly that was? It had to be a place really inconvenient for you…”

“Damn it was!” the soldier confirmed fiercely, wobbling a little from one feet to another. “They jumped up on us at the bridge just a few miles south on that road! There is that fucking famous rock… Damn, how it was called… It looks like piece of shit, but people won´t stop talking about it.”

Kame assumed it was impossible to get anything more specific from the man.

“Sneaky bastards, that they are,” the soldier added upset again. “Be careful not to encounter with them, boy!”

“I will. Thank you for the warning…”

The soldier disappeared back inside, almost missing the entrance and keeping murmuring the vulgarisms aimed on the Riders´ heads. The humble expression disappeared from Kame´s face the second the soldier was out of his sight. At least he had something to start with now. He will find out what that famous rock is and he might check the surroundings of that place, and who knows, maybe…

Almost inaudible sound of something shifting made Kame to turn around, with the hand already placed on the stock of his gun. Between the saloon´s back wall and a few sheds of unknown purpose there was a narrow alley full of dark shadows. But Kame felt someone´s stare despite the darkness.

“Who´s there?” he asked sharply.

“That was smart,” a hoarse voice reached out to him from the shadows, which moved suddenly and revealed a sinewy man in long coat. “As one of very few you seem to have some brain cells left, kid.”

Kame remained on alert, ready for an attack or anything else what he might have expected from the stranger, who obviously listened to his dialogue with that nasty drunkard. But he kept silent, while the man approached even closer, so that he had a better view at his face, which was covered with dark stubble. Kame realized that he was one of the lonely gunslingers in the taproom, sitting not far from his own table.

“I have a proposal for you,” the unknown gunman said in the end.

“I don´t know you, Mister, what business you might have with me?” Kame asked sharply, suspiciously keeping his distance.

“I know you´re looking for at least one Akanishi and it seems to me that maybe even for both.”

Kame stiffened upon hearing that. How was it possible that man knew…?

“I heard you talking with Mrs. April on your arrival…” the man explained as if he suspected what was going through Kame´s head.

 _You have a damn good hearing then,_ Kame thought. Well, it was true that the space was almost empty at that time, so the words might have reached a man in the taproom.

“Just to be clear, I´m after the younger one,” the gunman continued.

“What do you mean by that?” Kame frowned.

“Please, do you think I´m as stupid as that woman?” the stranger snorted. “I seriously doubt there is so many Akanishi´s around. Not to mention I _know_ that Leo has an older brother. And _you_ know that as well.”

“You´re assuming too much, Mister,” Kame noted carefully.

“But correctly, don´t I?” the man smirked.

Kame hesitated. He couldn´t be sure about what that man was really after, but the truth was that two can succeed where one is hopeless.

“Let´s say you do,” he admitted slowly. “So, you are after the bounty?”

“A man would have to be crazy to refuse such a generous contribution from the government,” the gunman assumed. “I admit; I usually work alone…”

“As you are good at it, right?” Kame cut in.

The white teeth could be seen in the darkness for a moment.

“I am. I take my job seriously. I´m not one of those self-called hunters, who don´t know a shit about what it takes. But there is just too many of Riders for one handy man... I would have welcomed a help of someone capable…”

Kame was thinking quickly. I would not be bad to continue searching with someone, who might lead him to the right place, despite their motivations being clearly different… And yet he realized that the bounty hunter just wanted to use him, because he found out that Kame knew another Akanishi.

“As there is no bounty on the older one´s head, I don´t care why are you searching for him,” the stranger continued. “I just need to know if you are willing to help me catch the younger one.”

Well, of course that Kame was _not willing_ to do that at all. He didn´t know Leo, but he would not even think about doing something nasty to Jin´s brother, no matter what the younger guy did. But this was a great chance to move further and he decided to seize it.

“I want a half of the bounty,” he stated firmly. It was better to pretend he was after money, than to admit he had his personal reasons for the Akanishi search.

The stranger laughed shortly: “That´s even better than I had hoped… How good are you with a gun, kid?”

“Enough to keep myself alive,” Kame replied calmly. “And I know also many other useful things…”

“I think I´m starting to like you, man… All right. So, my proposal… We cooperate during the search and catching that Riders´ leader or whatever. In case we find the older one as well, that´s on you. The two can cover each other´s back and half to half is a fair deal.”

“Dead or alive?” Kame asked.

“Does it matter to you?” the bounty hunter returned the question.

“And to you?”

“Well…” the man smirked again. “Seems we will have some trust issues, but a common goal is enough to overcome it. So… I´m Ralph Harvey,” the gunman introduced himself reaching out with his hand.

Kame was not completely sure it was really a good idea to make partnership with that man, who was obviously eager to get his hands on the wanted Jin´s brother and more than willing to kill him to get that reward, despite not saying it aloud.

But with an experienced bounty hunter, it was highly probable he would be able to find Leo much faster and maybe even Jin along with him. And if the worst was about to happen, he could be there to prevent it, so all things considered, it was better to keep his eyes on this hunting Mister. With this resolution, Kame accepted the offered hand and repaid Harvey´s grip firmly…


	6. Silver King

**T** he Queen City of the Plains seemed to be huge, rich and beautiful for all those newcomers from the east, who arrived there filled with their foolish dreams about easily reachable wealth. But those who had lived there for a longer time, those who basically made Denver what it was, they knew better than that.

The pretty houses, luxurious hotels and neat cobblestoned streets - that was not everything. It was only very good cover of the real face of the city, which was so rotten under that mask it _smelled_. There were crowds of unlucky seekers for silver or gold wandering in the back streets aimlessly, dirty children of poor servants, who worked like slaves for the upper class, dozens of harlots treated with such cruelty it was terrifying even only talk about it, and of course corrupted politicians and criminal bosses, who could be spotted right at the entrance of the most noble hotel in the town – ´Brown Palace´.

There were already too many citizens around to control them with simple promises. Everybody wanted their reward in cash. If you had money to pay them off, you had power. You could get enough money, only if you had access to silver or gold. And only if you were clever enough, you were able to hold on to that valuable resource and use those who were paid from it in the most convenient way. If you could control your subordinates, you gained their respect. And when people respected you, you could get an attention of the whole crowds and influence the world. A position of ´Lieutenant Governor of Colorado´ required all of that, and Horace Austin Warner Tabor had it.

A long mustache was the most expressive part on the face of the man in his early fifties, who was standing at the tall, artistically decorated window on the fifth floor, watching the exciting scene in front of the hotel´s entrance. The guard in brown uniform was dragging some loudly screaming barefoot kid down the stairs, pushing him away roughly, while the newly arrived guests observed it disgustedly.

Horace soothed his sideburns down to the chin, where his fingers rested for a while, while he was thinking about the best way how to deal with the begging children on the streets, who had started to be quite a problem recently.

A short knock interrupted him, but he reacted calmly to it: “Yes?”

“Lieutenant Parker is here, Governor, at your request,” his steward in always impeccably clean uniform announced.

“Great, let him in and bring us some coffee.”

“Yes, sir.”

Governor Tabor adjusted his perfectly fitted suit a bit and came to meet his guest, shaking with the soldier´s hand in a friendly manner.

“Come in, make yourself comfortable, Parker,” he showed him to the chair. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes, gladly, thank you, sir,” the tall lieutenant nodded gratefully. “I had a long night…”

“What happened?” Horace asked curiously, observing a pale face of the government employee.

“Unfortunately, my men drank a little more than they should have last night, sir,” the lieutenant admitted unwillingly. “I was away to report to my superiors and couldn´t watch over them. They caused some ruckus in Blake Street Saloon.”

“That´s unpleasant…” Horace reacted seriously, as he sat down into his armchair.

“They will be punished, Governor,” the soldier stated strictly.

“I have no doubt. Were they affected by that ambush so much?”

Parker fidgeted a little nervously under the Governor´s sharp look: “Well, yes, sir, I would say so…” he stated slowly.

“I hope they are equally sorry for the delivery…” Horace noted in a cold voice.

“Certainly, sir,” the soldier assured him.

The steward entered the office and served both men with coffee and water. They waited until he closed the door again.

“So? Is there anything new you can inform me about?” Governor asked, adding sugar into the hot liquid.

“I´m afraid we have taken those outlaws too lightly, sir,” the lieutenant announced, staring into his mug with a deep frown.

“Or maybe…” Tabor raised his voice a little. “Your men take them too seriously…”

“Governor!” the man straightened up in his chair, almost saluting. “I can assure you that…!”

“I do not blame you from this fiasco, Lieutenant,” Horace interrupted him firmly. “Even though I might have,” he added, sipping from the cup carefully.

The soldier´s face reddened and he kept sulkily silent for a while, before he spoke again: “I recommend strengthening of the guards on your carriages, sir.”

“And they would have done the same, sending more gunmen for an ambush; there would be no point,” Governor refused the proposal immediately. “It was the third carriage already. I´m pretty sure that there is an information leak...”

“So… What would you recommend, sir?” the lieutenant asked carefully.

Horace enjoyed the rich bitter liquid wordlessly for a few moments.

“They need to be stopped, as soon as possible,” he stated finally. “Anything about possible location of their hideout?”

“Nothing much of any help, sir…” the soldier shook his head gloomily. “If anyone knows something, they keep it for themselves either because they are scared of them or because they want to catch Akanishi and grab the reward themselves.”

“So… You say we might have more information about them if there was a sufficient motivation?”

“Something like that…” Parker nodded hesitantly. “It depends, sir…”

“Well… Seems I have to get involved in this personally in the end. It´s necessary for everybody, even for the poorest scum in Denver, to understand that it is not wise to help those criminals…”

***

 

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the path was comfortable to ride on so far, and despite all of that the company of twelve riders was anything but cheerful.

Everybody seemed to be mad at Jin, except Kuro. Nobody talked to him, not even Ryo. At least he had enough time to concentrate and remember the way they went through. For which he could consider himself to be lucky, as Esler wanted to blindfold him at the moment they left Leadville, but Leo didn´t allow that.

Jin assumed they were heading to the Riders´ hideout. They would not have been so careless as to have it in the middle of civilization, so they were ascending up the hills for a few hours already, from time to time having the nice view at the city down there.

He was riding in the back of their small company, while Leo with Esler were in the front and they seemed to be discussing something important. Jin was a little concerned about that. He still didn’t know what that gang was up to, but whatever it was he intended to keep Leo out of more troubles than the younger one had already had. But how was he supposed to do that when he knew nothing about the situation?

Jin continued riding, sinking in many gloomy thoughts: _I must talk with Leo and persuade him at all costs to tell me something more…_

A loud bang somewhere in the distance made Jin to pull on his reins and look around curiously.

“That was from the mines,” Ryo riding behind informed him. “They use dynamite to get further to the vein from time to time.”

“That´s dangerous, isn´t it?” Jin murmured.

“Yeah… Quite a lot of men had already died in those dark holes…” Ryo admitted sadly. “But they keep coming there; the shine of silver blinding them, or the salary, it doesn´t really matter.”

Jin glanced at the young Rider curiously and Ryo´s lips curved in a cynical grin noticing that: “You think we are the same?”

The not-to-be-trusted gunslinger shrugged: “Frankly, I don´t know what to think about you all…”

Ryo repaid his look for a while, before he spurred his stallion to move again.

“Let´s move, we should catch up,” he said.

Jin followed his example, remaining at the other´s side.

“I cannot tell you much. You should talk to Leo…” Ryo stated suddenly.

“Not that I didn´t try…” the older Akanishi reacted annoyed.

“Try harder,” Ryo snapped a little. It was the first time Jin ever saw the black-haired one angry. “He already takes all of that too personally and Cullen doesn´t exactly make it better with his attitude…”

“Ryo, I´m sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about,” Jin reminded him to stop the flow of complaints. “Can´t you tell me at least something?”

“No… Sorry, Jin, that was our agreement. Not to talk about it to anyone. I believe Leo will explain it to you. He should have…”

“I get it,” Jin nodded seriously. “I am his _older brother_ , right? I will remind him about that…”

*

 

Jin didn´t know what he had expected, but a huge and obviously very well-taken-care-of cottage, hidden deep in the woods was definitely not that. An old chalet, abandoned house, some cave; it could be any of it, but not that mansion. He was quite sure he wouldn´t be able to find it alone, so well it was covered by the forest, but still it was close to the water source and the road, which led to an old closed mine, as Ryo told him. And moreover, this cottage was not empty…

There was a muscular man working in front of the house, creating long stakes from the rough logs. As Jin found out later, his name was Oswald, who formerly worked in the mine, before one detonation killed both of his sons. Shortly after that his wife died on tuberculosis, but he stayed in the house he built with his own hands and skills, and lived there as a hermit. What was a mystery to Jin, was why he helped the Riders and let them have shelter in his home, despite that he obviously didn´t belong to the group. A mystery nobody bothered to explain to him, as well as tons of other things…

 

A few minutes later, Jin walked around the unexpectedly big house, smoking a cigarette and trying to keep himself calm. They called in a meeting inside, but of course, he was not invited. He glanced towards the window, behind which the gang gathered and sighed a little desperately. Everything was much more complicated than he had thought it could be.

He found a quiet sunny place not far from the little garden, which the resident of the beautiful cottage had already started to prepare for the spring and sat down at the bole of one fallen tree. Not even the cigarette was as good as he had hoped…

Jin looked up to the tree tops above the small glade, feeling lonelier than ever in the previous months. He should have taken some god damned pigeons with him to send a message or something…

***

 

It was not an easy decision for Kame to leave the Blake Street Saloon. For the moment, it was the most probable place where he could meet up with Jin. But on the other hand, he could also wait there for weeks without the older one coming… Not to mention, he was not able to just sit there doing nothing at all.

“How well do you know them?” a voice interrupted his thinking.

Kame had to suppress an annoyed expression over just another question. Harvey started asking them as soon as they left the busy streets and headed south from Denver.

“I don´t know the younger one at all; the older one for just a few months,” he replied calmly, constantly aware that he had to be very careful.

“And about the Riders in general?”

“Just what was published at the posters…”

“Let me enlighten you then… The Riders have quite a significant enemy – Horace Tabor. Have you heard of him?”

“I read his name in newspapers… They call him Silver King, right?” Kame remembered.

“Yes, that´s him,” the bounty hunter nodded. “From some reason it seems that the gang is focused at his deliveries of silver and they are surprisingly well-informed about them.”

“You think they have a spy there, who lets them know?”

“Probably. And I think they will attack the next one as well.”

“So if we manage to get the specific details about this delivery…”

“We may know the spot where to find the Riders as well,” Harvey finished Kame´s assumption. “We don´t have to care about the robbery though…”

Kame expected nothing else from the man; Ralph Harvey cared only about his own profit.

“The point is to follow them to their hideout, right?”

“Exactly,” the hunter nodded satisfied.

A short silence followed, with the two men eyeing each other, as they kept riding on the wide road.

“And you _have_ that information about the next delivery…” Kame spoke again in the end.

“Yes,” Harvey confirmed without any prevarications.

“Would you mind to reveal how did you get it?”

“That´s a secret,” Harvey grinned.

“So… After we check that place of the latest ambush, our next destination will be…?” the younger one asked defiantly.

“Leadville,” the man replied him willingly this time.

***

 

Before Jin got back to the cottage, the meeting was already over. The gunmen set up a big fire and were obviously enjoying their deserved rest. He searched among them for his brother but didn´t find him at the campfire. But Ryo noticed his look and moved with his head a little to direct Jin towards the house.

Jin nodded gratefully, heading his steps that way. He found Leo talking with Oswald on the spacious veranda. Leo was just sending the older man to go and enjoy some of their beer and catch up with the others. Oswald left then; giving Jin just one mysterious glance, but Leo remained there. His younger brother repaid Jin´s look for a while, before he headed towards the side of veranda, where a few chairs and bench were standing around the table with prepared tankards. Jin followed him.

Without a word, both brothers sat down and their eyes focused at the loud group around the fire not far away from the house.

“What do you think about us, Jin?” Leo asked suddenly.

“It´s difficult to think something, when I don´t _know_ anything about you.”

“But you still have some ideas,” the younger one insisted.

Jin didn´t reply, just kept observing those men of various ages, all armed despite being at safe place. They were dangerous, that was for sure, but they were not necessarily evil, as he had already found out…

“You think they are all criminals and thieves who are basically asking for a noose, right?” Leo continued quietly.

Jin just looked at his brother, keeping his silence. If Leo wanted to talk finally, he would let him have the space for it.

“Well, you are correct in that…” Leo admitted heavily.

“But?” Jin reacted.

“Huh?”

“I hear a serious ´but´ in what you said,” the older brother explained not so patiently.

“I don´t know where to start…” Leo sighed.

“Then how about explaining to me how the hell you managed to became their leader first?”

“I´m not exactly…”

“You are,” Jin interrupted Leo´s objection. “They listen to your orders, even Esler does.”

“It´s more like he respects me…” Leo objected anyway and poured beer into two glasses from a huge kettle. “I´m not sure if I am even able to explain…”

“Just try,” Jin encouraged him.

“All right… A short version of the long story?”

“If that includes everything important, I will be more than satisfied,” Jin reacted condescendingly.

Leo made himself more comfortable in the old chair and focused his stare on the gang members enjoying their free time again.

“After the two of us separated, I rode after the rest of the group,” he started finally, wisely skipping their furious goodbye from back then. “I caught up with them soon and we continued riding east, as we had planned to get one of our members out of jail in Fort Pierre. Greg was our leader at that time, do you remember him?”

“I think I hardly met him,” Jin murmured. “Very tall, grey hair despite he was not in the age for it, was that him?”

“Yeah, that fits…”

“I spotted him once, maybe twice. It was not known he led the Riders back then…”

“That´s right, it was safer that way…” Leo nodded. “The Marshals arrested his brother and we wanted to save him. But it would have been stupid from us to try and shoot the prison into pieces, Greg intended to bribe the guards first, for that we had the money from the bank robbery.”

“It didn´t work out, I guess…”

“Almost did…” Leo frowned. “One of the guards agreed, but the other made troubles. We managed to get Greg´s brother out, but we lost other three. We headed to Wyoming to escape the pursuit. We settled down close to two farms and we were doing fine for some time, keeping a low profile. I do not say that we were saints, the Riders are consisted of thieves after all, but most of them feel like they should get back what was stolen away from them before…”

“You too?” Jin asked in the short pause.

“What?”

“Do you feel that as well? That you need to take something back?”

Leo was repaying his brother´s glance for a while.

“Yes… Actually, I do.”

“And does it matter from whom you take it?”

“It does…”

“And what about the others then? Does it matter to them as well?”

“Jin…”

“I do not try to judge you, it´s just a question.”

“Most of the time…” Leo admitted slowly. “It depends on the situation…”

“Such as?”

“We do not steal from those who help us.”

“Do they have a gun aiming at their head while helping you?”

Leo snorted something angrily, before he leant closer: “I will continue talking only if you really want to hear it, Brother.”

“I do,” Jin nodded seriously. “Go on.”

“Something happened then… They accused one of us from theft of cattle, even though it was not true. The ranchers didn´t want to cooperate with us anymore, so we left and Ryo joined us back then. He was the only one who believed we were innocent. Shortly after that we crossed Colorado borders. It was then, when all that mess started… Do you know that saying?” Leo asked suddenly “Where the Devil can´t go, he´ll send a woman?”

 _Or a beautiful bartender,_ Jin thought gloomily and gulped the rest of his beer down slowly.

“Yeah…”

“He sent two of them in our case…” Leo murmured. “There was another ranch. Not everybody was thrilled to stay there at first, but we all needed some rest after all that running and moving from one place to another and eventually most of us didn´t want to leave at all… They gave us food, a place to sleep and pretty good money for just working with the horses, or on the fields. That farm was huge and the owner was desperate for some helpers.”

Leo refilled both glasses, before he continued.

“I will not bother you with details… Greg fell in love with the daughter of that rancher. If it would have been just a fling, all of us would  be sleeping better now… But it was serious; he wanted to marry her and the worst of all, she felt the same way. Greg seemed to be a hard-working man and her parents didn´t mind it much, but the problem was somebody else. There was a rich man, who came to visit the ranch, Horace Tabor. None of us knew who he really was, until he found out about the relationship of that girl with some _dago_. Suddenly, the approach of her parents changed and they forbid their daughter to keep in touch with Greg. It took some time before we found out that it was Tabor, who was behind it.”

Jin felt a little confused with the story flow: “What did he have to do with it?” he asked, while Leo sipped from his beer.

“He was the girl´s real father,” Leo explained.

“What?” Jin huffed. “What is this story? A fairy tale?”

“It was exactly as I say,” the younger one insisted. “Everything was revealed during one very emotional discussion. Both Tabor and the rancher´s wife cheated on their husbands once and the girl was the result. The rancher knew, but kept quiet, with his pockets full of cash. Tabor was against the relationship of his blood with a wandering gunman, but Greg refused to give up. He planned to kidnap the girl and leave. Everybody from the group was against this plan; nobody wanted to chase more troubles. It was only me who was foolish enough to be willing to help him… Unfortunately, shortly after that Greg´s chosen one fell sick. That bastard Tabor refused to let doctor see her, claiming that she faked it to force him to change his decision. Well, in the end… She died.”

Jin stared at his brother shocked: “Who the fuck is that man?”

“They call him the Silver King; one of the richest man in Colorado,” Leo explained. “He owns two huge houses, one in Leadville, one in Denver and he is silver mine´ owner as well.”

“You know a lot about him…”

“And soon you will know the reason why… Greg was furious with grief and he attempted to kill Tabor. I got there too late… Our leader was wounded and he died before we got him to the doctor. Tabor came out of that incident unharmed. Naturally, the others wanted to avenge Greg, and it went awfully wrong. Some other workers on the farm got in the middle of their attack on Tabor and unfortunately also the rancher´s wife. They were killed by the blast, all six of them…”

“Those six murders, which were blamed on you?” Jin asked.

“Yes… You know, the thing was that the people at the ranch, they knew my face, I was coming there with Greg, but the others were safe; they were just nameless employees. So I took the blame on myself and told them to run.”

Jin was quite surprised about the information, but Leo continued talking as it was nothing unusual.

“But as the local sheriff was leading me off to the closest city with prison, the others freed me and we ran off once again.”

“What about that second woman?” Jin asked curiously.

“Huh?” Leo glanced at him surprised.

“You said there were two of them…”

“Yeah… Right… The other one was that girl´s cousin – Jane,” the younger one explained slowly. “They were like sisters. She hates Tabor for what he had caused… She joined us once she found out about Greg´s death.”

“And the other guys just agreed with it?” Jin raised his eyebrows.

“Well, she was very stubborn…” Leo replied with a small smile.

“And what about the leader-thing?”

“At first I said it just to attract the attention and it worked out. Nobody cared for the rest of the group when they arrested _the leader_. But the real thing… It was not my idea,” Leo sighed heavily. “They decided it themselves. Ryo said it should be me as the one who took the responsibility and once Cullen agreed, it was a done deal.”

“Why specifically Esler?”

“He is Greg´s brother… So it was supposed to be him in the first place.”

“Esler let the position of the leader pass onto you just like that?” Jin couldn´t accept that so easily. “Why?”

Leo shrugged and took a long gulp from his beer.

“Try asking him... They need somebody to lead them, the gang,” Leo said glancing at the group near the fire. “Honestly, I´m still quite impressed they listen to me.”

“Well… You did something what gained you their respect, there´s nothing complicated about it,” Jin assumed.

Leo smiled more honestly this time: “You´re probably right.”

“Most of all, I´m quite relieved you didn´t murder six people…”

The younger´s cheerful expression disappeared right away: “I did some killings though, Brother…”

“Me too,” Jin reacted in a quiet voice. “It´s not something what I´d have judged you for.”

A short sympathetic silence was interrupted by the clinging, as the brothers raised their glasses for a toast.

“So what about now?” Jin asked then. “What is it with all those ambushes? Stealing for the stockpile?”

Leo´s face turned serious.

“Once we moved here, we came across Tabor again… He is one of the biggest sponsors of _everything_ in Colorado, and moreover, he is Lieutenant Governor of the state. The soldiers and Marshals are his puppets. He is trying to act as some Savior, but according to my opinion he is just a rich bastard hiding behind a slimy smile. Unfortunately, he is perfectly guarded and there is no way we could attack him directly even if we wanted to.”

“If you wanted to?” Jin repeated questioningly.

“I persuaded the others there are other ways to get our revenge for Greg… There are many people who suffer because of that man. He makes his money by flaying others out of their skins, especially the mine workers and their families. A lot of them died in the holes because Tabor didn´t want to wait longer to get the silver and ordered to use dynamite. Nobody dared to do something about it, until we did.”

Leo´s explanation reminded Jin his own situation not so long ago… It seemed they were brothers in more ways than he would like to know.

“Are you planning to use that silver for something or you just stock it under the pillow?” he asked.

“Part of it is for us, of course,” Leo admitted. “But we also divide a lot of money among those who need it.”

“Wow, you´ve become the Samaritans now?” Jin teased the younger one.

“More like it´s not so bad to do some good deeds from time to time,” Leo grunted in response. “It returns back to us, as you noticed. We have many friends in Leadville and we could use even more of them. We need support to stand against Tabor. I´ve got a feeling that his ignorant attitude towards us is over and he will use all means to come after us...”

“But you will not stop with all of this no matter what, right?”

Leo stared at his beer for a while.

“No.”

“Is it because of Jane or because of Greg?” Jin kept asking.

“Both. And we all want to come out from this fight against Tabor Silver King as winners.”

“You should be more careful then… Think, before you stick your neck in the noose. They are after _you_ , Brother.”

“I know. _We_ know; the boys protect me…”

“Will they catch a bullet flying towards you?”

“Will you?” Leo repaid the sharp tone. “I knew the risk, when I said I was the one who killed those people, Jin. But they know nothing about the rest of us. Nothing. They are safe the second they put those black scarves away.”

“You sacrificed yourself for their safety,” Jin murmured unhappily.

“They are my friends! Damn it, they are like my second family, Jin! They saved me when there was nobody else around!”

Jin felt a hint of accusation in the brother´s voice and it made him to feel guilty… It was true. Even though they were together, he didn´t pay as much attention to the younger one as he was supposed to... It was just that they had to deal with everything themselves, there was always something else, and he didn´t even notice when Leo got so distant.

He finished his beer, and glanced at the cheerful group again: “I´m glad they were there for you…”

Leo seemed to notice something about the older one´s voice, as his angered expression disappeared: “I didn´t mean it like that, Jin… I know you were… busy. It was a tough period for both of us.”

“You really grew up,” Jin admitted with a nostalgic sigh to ease up the atmosphere.

“What did you expect?” Leo snorted, but with a hardly suppressed smile. “That I would get stuck as that stubborn kid?”

“You will always be my _younger_ brother,” Jin reminded him surprisingly gently.

Leo just snorted something sheepishly.

“One more thing… Why did everybody insist on keeping quiet about all of this so stubbornly?” the older one wondered. “It´s not like I didn´t hear much worse stories already…”

His little brother didn´t reply for a while, first he poured some more beer and then he spoke with a clear bitterness in his voice: “There was a traitor among us. Tabor had bribed him and we all almost died because of it… We do not trust _anyone_ outside of our circle now… You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Jin nodded seriously. “How comes they allowed it this time?”

“Well… Once again, I took the responsibility for any possible consequences,” the younger one looked Jin in the eyes. “I decided to tell you about everything because I trust you.”

Jin felt happy and guilty at the same time hearing that statement. Of course, that Leo could trust him; he would do anything to help him, just not in the way his brother probably thought…

“Anyway, there´s also one big deal I want to talk with you about…” Leo changed the topic suddenly. “We need a lot of cash for Oswald´s sister. She lives in Ohio and she needs an operation, which could save her life, but it´s awfully expensive. It can be done only in Europe, so it´s necessary to cover the trip and medical expenses as well. Oswald doesn´t have anyone else left from his family and we owe him a lot, so... There should be a delivery for Leadville´s Bank soon, which we want to steal and pay for this operation. Will you go with us?”

Jin hardly suppressed a tired sigh. Seriously, ´complicated´ was not even a proper word for all of this… There was no way for him to back off now; he would have to go along and figure out how to persuade Leo later.

“Well, I have to make up for not being there, right? I will go with you, Brother.”

“I´m glad to hear that…”

“I will be gladder, when we finish this without any casualties…” Jin murmured.

“Don´t worry; we are quite a dangerous bunch, aren´t we?” Leo laughed shortly.

“Well, I cannot disagree with that,” the older one reacted amused.

Their brotherly time was suddenly interrupted by the steps coming from the right side. It was a man patrolling the perimeter around the property and he was leading someone with him.

A voice, which Jin didn´t know, was heard in the shadows then: “Let me tell you that it´s a damn hard mission to catch up with you, guys…”

Leo rose up from his chair abruptly, while Jin just eyed the newcomer, who stepped into the poor light of the lanterns, with the smiling guard at his side. He had a very short blonde hair, dirty clothes and somewhat tired, but at the same time happy expression all over his rounded face.

Jin´s brother jumped over the railing and grabbed the guy into his arms: “Damn, Koki! We all had you for dead!” Leo was beaming with joy.

“It would take much more to get rid of me, Chief,” Koki grinned. “But I´m really glad I made it back…”


	7. Significant information

**“T** his is Leadville,” the hunter´s finger pointed at the big mark in the west from Denver.

“It´s located in a quite high altitude…” Kame noted, observing the worn-out, but very detailed map of Colorado spread across the flat stone near the fire, which light allowed them to see it, as it was already after dark.

“Correct,” Harvey nodded. “It was founded at the first convenient place closest to the mines.”

“How long will it take us to get there?” the younger one wondered.

“From here, we should be there tomorrow evening; we made quite a progress today…” the older man replied.

“You talked about the mines; where are those?” Kame kept studying the map, to become familiar with the area.

“Here, further in the north,” the hunter indicated the small dots. “As far as I know, three of them are currently opened. A few miles further, there are several closed ones as well.”

“So the workers have to cope with a quite long way down the mountains with the excavated material, right?”

“That´s right,” the man confirmed, eying the younger one.

“And we do not expect any ambush on this road why?” Kame asked, pointing at the thin line.

“The raw silver would have been useless for the gang; I doubt there are many mints which would accept it for forging without a special permission,” Harvey explained.

“Tabor has this permission then?”

“Exactly. As I said; he _owns_ the mines. So any silver-greedy thieves need to wait until the metal is recreated into coins and other stuff, before they can make their move.”

“I see…” Kame nodded, pondering if there was any proper reason for the Riders to go after so much money, or if they really were _just_ greedy.

“The whole process ends with the money deliveries to Denver or Leadville, or other cities, and the Riders are focused on getting their hands on those,” the hunter finished his explanation speech.

“You seem to be a way better informed than I would expect…” the younger guy stated slowly.

“I have my resources,” Harvey reacted evasively, folding up the map.

“Meaning there is even more information leaks than Tabor probably knows himself, right?” Kame assumed quickly, noticing the glimpse of unsatisfied expression at the hunter´s face.

“You might say that… Anyway, since Tabor has his interests in both Denver and Leadville and also the significant inputs in both cities´ banks, the cash deliveries are under his thumb as well. And there will be a huge super-secret delivery to the Bank of Leadville soon. Not much silver in general, but money from its sale. I don´t know when exactly it´s supposed to happen though… This information is really sensitive.”

“How are we going to find it out then? Do you intend to force the local banker to tell you?” Kame raised his eyebrows skeptically.

Harvey blinked surprised: “Exactly… You´re not stupid, kid.”

Kame ignored the mocking tone of the older man´s voice, added some wood to the fire and shifted the pan with their dinner closer.

“The gang of Riders might have the same idea,” he noted then.

“I didn´t really think about that…” Harvey murmured, grabbing the flask with water. “I assume they know about that delivery, but they would not have risked putting too much pressure on the banker; he might have warned Tabor in advance then.”

“That´s true,” Kame admitted.

“Anyway… We will check out the situation in the city first, then I will visit our dear banker and we will see… Is the dinner ready yet?” the hunter turned the attention to the meat on the pan, which was an obvious end of their discussion. Even though Kame would like to know more… For example, what made Harvey to think that the banker would talk to him.

***

 

Everybody already finished their dinner by the time Koki was almost done with his narration. Only Jin couldn´t eat a thing no matter how tasty the grilled pork and fresh bread looked like. His throat and also stomach were gripped by something hard, something what he would rather not name.

The blonde guy drank from his tankard, obviously thirsty, also reminding the others that they could swallow a little of that tasty bitter liquid, which was waiting for them somewhat forgotten. Eleven Black Riders with their young leader, plus Oswald - the cottage´s owner, plus Jin; all together fourteen men, they were sitting around the huge fireplace, wordlessly absorbing the information they had just received.

This time Leo insisted on Jin being present during the conversation as well, and nobody had any complaints, but at that moment Jin thought that it would have been better if he had not been there.

He didn´t know what to think about Koki Tanaka yet. The guy seemed to be more open to the strangers than the rest of the gang, as he didn´t even touch his gun while shaking hands with Jin, and he smiled a lot despite the difficult weeks he had been through. The blonde one´s story covered something over one month, since he got separated from his fellows, was captured and interrogated.

As far as Jin understood, Koki got involved with a riot in one quarry, where the workers asked him for help, but they were exposed before the actual change of management. He didn´t mention what happened before to make the other Riders think he was dead, but it didn´t matter at the moment. There was something else resonating in Jin´s head.

“For my luck, there was one guy who helped me to escape,” Koki spoke again, to complete the information. “He didn´t seem to be fond of those two bastards either... Right after that I headed to Leadville, where they told me you had already left, so I headed here, hoping you didn´t change the safe house meanwhile.”

“It´s great to have you back, man,” Ryo spoke first, clinging with his glass to Koki´s. The others followed his example except for Jin, who was still sitting in his place, motionless and lost in dark thoughts.

“Tell me about it…” Koki huffed, after he put the empty tankard away. “They seemed to be already tired with me not saying the correct things already. Leo, we should be aware of them, I mean it.”

“How much were they interested about us?” the Riders´ leader asked frowning.

“A lot. By the form of their questions, they are quite interested in Tabor´s silver as well, and they do not like our _involvement_.”

“I don´t like _their_ involvement with you either,” Leo snorted quite upset.

“We have a lot to deal with to care about some greedy bastards in Fort Collins,” Esler said in a serious tone.

“I know that, Cullen. But that doesn´t mean I will let it go,” Leo reacted coldly.

“Don´t worry about that now, Chief,” Koki grinned a little forcefully. “I will not forget their faces so easily…”

Leo reached out and patted the older guy´s shoulder nodding, but didn´t seem satisfied. Ryo got up to bring more beer for everyone, while Esler moved to make their fire livelier. Then Leo turned to his brother and immediately noticed that something was wrong with him.

“Jin? Are you all right?” he asked, observing the older one´s stiff features.

Hearing the worried question, Jin tried hard to shake his numbness off, but he was not very successful. He drank from his glass of beer, which already lost its cool temperature, hoping it would help to clear his mind.

“You´re awfully pale,” the younger Akanishi continued. “What is it?”

“It´s just that… Those men… Cameron and… Grenet,” he spoke with difficulties and quietly, but despite that everybody´s attention including curious Koki focused on him. “I know them,” Jin managed to say in the end.

“How?” Leo asked confused, while Esler stabbed the older Akanishi with his eyes suspiciously.

“Not another ones of your friends, I hope,” the gunman snorted.

Jin´s stomach clutched heavily remembering the wounds all over his body, which made themselves known from time to time. He still felt all those blows, he still smelled his own muscles burning, he still heard that awful laughing, he still remembered the taste of his own blood…

“No,” he reacted in such a tone, that the cynical smirk disappeared from Cullen´s face immediately. “They are not my friends.”

Also Ryo got back to his place then, so they were all around the fire again, all of them listening. But Jin didn´t saw their glances, drowning in his memories and trying hard to focus on talking.

“Grenet is a fugitive. He escaped from prison just a day before he would have been hanged on the gallows,” he informed the gang gloomily. “He and Cameron were both subordinates of Raynold Karnaka and neither of them exactly likes me,” Jin explained shortly, staring into the flames, which seemed to be a safer target for his eyes than anything else.

Most of the Riders seemed to know the rich old man, but some were confused.

“Who´s Karnaka?” Ryo was the one to ask.

“Awfully rich and powerful rancher in Montana. Our father was working for him before he killed our mother and then himself,” Leo was the one answering the question with a voice filled with disgust, while some of his companions exchanged knowing looks.

“And he had also caused my best friend´s death,” Jin added quietly.

“What happened then?” the black-haired youngster asked obviously shocked by the information.

“I helped him out to meet his own end…” the older Akanishi replied.

The silence in the circle around the fire was somewhat sympathetic then, even Esler let go of his hostile stare, to Jin´s relief. He had quite enough to handle with himself at the moment, anxious about the fact that Grenet was in Colorado…

Leo seemed to sense there was something more in Karnaka´s history. He didn´t let his eyes off the brother, but didn´t push Jin to speak further in front of the others. He took the word instead.

“Well… If we have a chance, they both will get what they deserve, but as Cullen said, for now we have more important things to do…”

“I understand that, Leo,” Koki assured him, while still also eyeing the other Akanishi curiously. “It´s not like I´m eager to see them again any time soon.”

“Who did you talk to in Leadville?” the Rider´s leader asked then.

“The old man, in the tavern.”

“Did he send any message?”

Koki shook his head negatively: “He said there was nothing new.”

“That´s not good,” Leo frowned unsatisfied. “They should arrange that delivery any day now…”

“I´m still not sure we can rely on the word of that steward,” Cullen reminded pessimistically.

“His information was all precise till now,” Leo shrugged.

“You have a spy among Tabor´s people?” Jin asked, trying hard to occupy his mind with anything apart from the memories full of pain…

Surprisingly, it was Esler who replied his question: “Yeah, one black servant of his. He seems to hate Tabor to death and he offered us help when we ambushed the first carriage, which he was accompanying.”

“He always sends us a telegram, one or two days before the delivery happens,” Ryo added.

“But it seems Tabor is more careful this time and he doesn´t have that info yet,” Esler noted.

“Probably,” Leo agreed.

“Shouldn´t we get back to Leadville then?” Ryo proposed. “To watch over the bank directly?”

“That would have been too late for any action,” Leo denied. “The security in that building is too tough. Let´s spare us any unnecessary troubles… We expect them to use the old road, so our position is more convenient here than anywhere else.”

Nobody questioned the young Akanishi´s decision.

“So? For how much longer will we wait?” Esler asked, looking at Leo.

“One more day,” the leader said. “If we do not receive the message till tomorrow evening, we will set up the watches along the road.”

“All right,” Esler nodded, with the other Riders murmuring agreement as well.

Jin watched as the atmosphere eased up quickly, when Ryo poured more beer to everyone; the serious discussion was over for the moment, but unfortunately his dark mood didn´t seemed to be leaving so easily…

***

 

Kame watched sulkily as Harvey disappeared in the stylish entrance of the ´Bank of Leadville´ building. The bounty hunter insisted on visiting the banker alone. Kame was pretty sure that his presence would not make any big difference, when the hunter wanted to _force_ the master of coins to talk. But since the two of them would have probably attracted some unwanted attention, he didn´t resist when Harvey gave the reins of his horse over to him. It would be stupid to lose this chance to gain the precious information related to the money delivery just because of useless argument. But still, he felt like he was being played around like a foolish boy and that he didn´t like it.

As the space in front of the bank was crowded with horses and carriages during that morning hour, he needed to relocate Ukushi and Harvey´s animal to the opposite side of the street, under the shelter belonging to some shop. He gripped the bridles firmly and checked both sides carefully first, already aware that Leadville was very lively even in comparison with Denver.

He was quite impressed when they had arrived there late at night of the previous day and found the streets still full of people and lights. A proper accommodation for not-too-high price was not a problem either, excluding the fact that Harvey covered the costs, proposing that he would deduct them from Kame´s part of the reward later. Not that the younger one would have any other choice but to agree.

Thoughtful and in not a good mood, Kame set off across the street which seemed to be free now, but unfortunately, at the very same moment a rider appeared from behind the corner and turned just barely in front of Kame on such a furiously riding mare that both horses, which he led, went wild.

Kame almost couldn´t hold them down, just his countless experiences and Ukushi´s quickly regained calmness prevented Harvey´s stallion from escaping to somewhere into the city.

The crazy rider had probably noticed the troubles, which he had caused and stopped the mare, turning back in the saddle. Only then Kame noticed that it was a female rider – a brown-haired pretty lady with wild almond-shaped eyes.

“I´m sorry, Handsome!” she called to him. “I´m in a hurry!”

Kame just nodded, accepting the apology and kept soothing Harvey´s animal in a calming way until the female rider disappeared in rush of the main street.

 _At least she apologized…_ Kame thought, sinking into even worse mood than before, as he tied the reins over the pole prepared for that purpose. _But what the hell everybody has with those nicknames for me?_

*

It was a damn long waiting and Kame, despite his strong ability to keep his composure, didn´t bother to cover his annoyance, when Harvey finally appeared.

“Don´t stare like that, man… Seems our Mister Banker has some issues with his creditors and it took a while before I could speak with him,” the hunter justified himself.

Kame could not care less about any excuses. He didn´t exactly have the reason for such grumpy attitude, but he just couldn´t shake it off.

“Have you got what we need?” he asked sharply.

“Of course, I do. I keep my word, Kamenashi…”

“So?”

“Well… It´s not absolutely urgent, but I suppose we should move our asses _now_ ,” Harvey replied, already mounting on his stallion.

“Meaning?” Kame asked stubbornly, waiting for more information.

“It´s supposed to happen this afternoon…” there was a response from the grinning hunter.

Kame´s heart jumped a little bit at the idea they might come across the Riders so soon. He got up to the saddle quickly, following the hunter on the way through the lively street. But despite his excitement, he was still bothered with how it was possible that Harvey found out that information so damn easily…

***

 

“Hey, Leo, may I have a word with you? Privately?”

Jin almost couldn´t sleep during the night, thinking over and over the situation with the Riders and Grenet, and in the end he decided to at least warn Leo in advance. He just couldn´t keep silent since he knew more than well, what those men were capable of.

“Of course,” the younger Akanishi nodded and followed him out of the cottage.

They were walking slowly towards the glade Jin had discovered a day before, keen silence upon both of them. Once they reached that nice place, Jin fished the cigarettes out of his pocket, offering to his brother.

“You´re making me worried now, Brother,” Leo raised his eyebrows, but picked one from the package anyway.

“I just want you to promise me something…” Jin started slowly, after the first inhalation went through his throat and lungs, while the younger one was observing him sharply.

“Depends on what it is…” Leo reacted, enjoying the rare pleasure already as well.

Jin faced his brother directly, to emphasize his words by looking into the other´s eyes.

“Stay out of Math Grenet´s way no matter what happens…” he stated seriously.

“I do not exactly intend to bother with that man any more than will be necessary…” Leo frowned confused. “But why do you ask for this?”

“Because I want to settle accounts with him myself,” Jin reacted.

Leo observed him for a while, before he sat down at the same fallen tree, as Jin did before.

“What else happened on that farm?” his little brother asked silently then.

Jin stood there a little numb. Forgetting about his cigarette completely, he wondered what might have been best – to keep quiet or to tell his brother the truth. What might have keep Leo away from Grenet more…

“That man is an insane bastard and you have enough of your own problems… If we come across him, I want you to leave him for me. Keep even that friend of yours back. I´m asking you for this, little Brother.”

“What did he do to you, Jin?” Leo kept asking, not really paying attention to the pleading tone of his voice, piercing the older brother with his eyes obstinately.

Jin sighed heavily: “We have some unfinished business…”

The younger one studied Jin for a long while, before he finished his cigarette and spoke again: “Were you tortured by him?”

“What? How did you…?” Jin stared at his brother surprised.

“I saw you washing yourself this morning,” Leo explained slowly. “Those scars all over your back… You didn´t have them before.”

Well, that was not so surprising. Jin hadspent several whole days with the Riders now; it was only a question of time before some of them would have noticed that. But nobody would have asked about it, except his brother of course.

“Damn it…” he murmured, grinding the rest of his cigarette into the ground.

“I hit the point then….” Leo assumed, his eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” the older one admitted heavily. “It was… I was exposed and… Well, I think you can imagine they were not happy about me trying to assassinate Karnaka,” Jin focused his eyes somewhere into the woods. “If not for Kame I would have been dead already…” he added silently.

“Kame?” the younger one repeated questioningly. “That friend you had told me about before?”

“Yeah,” Jin nodded. “He got me out of there and then his Indian friends cured me. I owe them a lot.”

Leo stood up, placed his hand on Jin´s shoulder and squeezed it firmly.

“All right… I understand. But I will not give you that promise…” he said slowly.

Jin took a breath: “But, you can´t…!”

“I want _you_ to promise me something instead,” the younger one didn´t care about his objections and kept talking. “You will not go against that man alone. You will let us help you,” he stated strictly.

Jin was lost on words for a moment, staring at his younger brother.

“Leo…”

“What? I will not let you go until you give that promise. Don´t you think I´d like to kick the ass of some bastard who hurt my brother?”

After that statement Jin felt incredibly better than for the past few hours. It was so damn good to have somebody who took care of you, to have your family, no matter if it was one person or ten.

“Thanks, little Brother…”

“Too soon for that,” the younger one grinned.

“Leo! Leo!” the urgent voice approaching them disturbed the precious moment, as Ryo came out running from behind the trees. “Jane is here! The telegram came! They will do it today!”

“Well… Seems we have a job to do,” Leo looked at his older brother again.

And Jin, still with that warm feeling in his chest, just nodded.


	8. Fruits of cooperation

**T** he trees were already leaving the sad grey color of the winter time behind, but they didn´t reach the green freshness yet. The sun was playing hide and seek with the soft clouds, illuminating the wild in one moment, and covering it with the shadows in another. There were still some places, where the piles of ice-cold snow resisted the rising temperatures and made the air cooler than it really was. The forest was peaceful and quiet in the manner which calmed you down, and made you to believe that you were completely alone in the depth of nature, except the animals and some lonely birds, which didn´t gather enough strength to sing out their joy from the upcoming spring yet.

The old north road was located quite far from the working mines and from the usual track used to the access Leadville, so there was no disruption from the blasts or other travelers. The dusk was coming and the shadows under the roof of conifers were deepening slowly, but surely.

“It will be difficult to spot anything at all if they are late,” Harvey, observing the road from their position on the top of a steep hill with small binoculars, grunted.

“You even know their time schedule?” Kame, crouching next to him behind a group of boulders, asked curiously.

“Trying to be smart now?” the hunter snorted. “Then what do you think? Will that famous leader himself show up here or not?”

“How should I know?” the younger guy asked back, checking on Ukushi, who was waiting a little behind.

“Well, if you know his brother, you may guess how the younger Akanishi could behave,” Harvey suggested.

Kame stared at the man without a word.

“Come on… I know you don´t trust me, but we´re cooperating for now, aren´t we?” the hunter reminded him grinning, but still focused on the view in his binoculars. “What´s your opinion?”

The younger one changed the position of his legs, to prevent them from going numb, before he replied: “I doubt he would have exposed himself so much, but if this is such a big delivery as you said…”

Harvey smirked in a way, which Kame didn´t like much: “It is a big deal, you can bet… So we assume that Akanishi himself might be part of this ambush, right?”

“Probably…” Kame admitted slowly. “ _If_ they appear at all…”

“They will.”

“You are pretty sure of it.”

The hunter just shrugged and didn´t reply. The more time Kame spent with that man, the less he trusted him. He definitely had to stay on alert and switch sides before anything too bad happened… He really didn´t intend to cause troubles for Jin´s brother, no matter if the older Akanishi was with him already or not.

“And here they go…” his too-much-grinning companion murmured and put the watching thing aside.

Harvey was right; a small coach with strong wheels pulled by four stallions appeared in the curve of the road approximately half a mile away. Except two waggoneers, it was accompanied by two riders, who were dressed in ordinary clothes, despite the fact they expected soldiers; it was probably because of the secrecy. They were moving forward quite slowly, the guards observing the woods on their sides, with two more hours of ride to Leadville in front of them.

“They are slow; it will not be difficult to follow them…” Kame assumed observing the coach rattling on the non-flat road.

“Let´s go then,” Harvey commanded, first on his feet.

*

 

Kame´s anxiety grew with each mile the ugly coach rode out on the narrow road. He and Harvey kept following the small company of guards through the woods, keeping their distance, covering themselves in the shadows of densely growing conifers. They had to move very slowly because of that, to avoid being spotted by the gunmen, but still it was fast enough not to lose the heavily dragged carriage from their sight.

Fortunately, or maybe not, they didn´t have to wait long for something interesting to happen, as the coach and the riders stopped suddenly. Approaching closer, they found out why. There was a fallen tree right across the road. It might have been a coincidence, but Kame noticed right away that the obstacle was caused by a recent cut, not by a lighting strike or rot.

Without saying a word, both Kamenashi and Harvey led their horses a little further from the road and made sure to be covered from any suspicious glances. They took up their positions just in time.

One of the guards dismounted to check on the tree, probably to find an easiest way how to remove it out of their way, when a harsh order was heard: “Hands up, Misters!”

The stagecoach was surrounded by six men in black so abruptly that it seemed as if they emerged right from the layer of old needles resting on the ground. Ukushi whickered uneasily and Kame leant forward to quickly place a hand across her blowholes. At the same time he was trying to see as much of the scene on the road as possible. Harvey´s stallion was feeding itself on some first spring grass, while his master glued the binoculars to his eyes again.

The attackers with scarves across their faces seemed to look all the same, it could not be tell if there was anyone specific, even if Kame knew those gangsters. None of them seemed any familiar to him.

The second guard, who remained sitting in his saddle, kicked his horse into its flanks in a foolish attempt to escape. But his leg was grabbed by one of the Riders and the man was pulled out from the animal´s back. He fell down with a painful scream, while his horse continued the graceful ride without its rider, rushing around the stump and then further down the road.

The other man just glanced at five rifles aiming at his head; he considered the situation more wisely and let his own weapon land next to his yowling colleague. As for the waggoneers, the both men raised their hands up in the air at the second the Riders popped out from the woods.

“I think Tabor should seriously reconsider the salary of his guardsmen,” Harvey murmured in a taunting whisper. “They do not exactly tear themselves to protect his money, right?”

Kame didn´t join the hunter´s mocking; Harvey was right, of course, but who would be surprised that those men didn´t want to die like that? Just for money? They surely had families they wanted to come back to…

The following events occurred so quickly, that it almost amazed Kame. The attackers tied all four men in no time, obviously used to that kind of job, while the two of them dragged four wooden boxes out of the coach. The chests had locks, but these were no match for a heavy hammer. Then the Riders placed the poor guardsmen inside the carriage in the place of many small bags, which they took into their hands.

While one Rider watched over the cuffed men, to make sure they would not try anything funny, the rest of the gang removed the tree from the way quite easily. Then they slapped the first two horses heavily, making the animals to start galloping forward, with the terrified guards trying to scream in fear through the gags, as the roof-less carriage was shaking from one side to another so much, it threatened to drop its new cargo over the edge any minute.

The gang waited till the sound of the wheels died out and then they dived into the deepening shadows of the forest, with Harvey and Kame in hot pursuit after them. Even though the Riders ambushed the delivery on foot, Kame had no doubt that they had their horses hidden somewhere. And the excited neighing, which they could hear very soon, told him he was right. The thunder of hooves led them further behind the thieves then…

*

 

“We´ve got it, Leo!” Koki whooped loudly, once he pulled the scarf off his face and waved with two bags in his hand so enthusiastically that one of them hit the guy over his jaw, making other three Riders laughed out aloud.

Leo and Jin were awaiting the ambush group just a few hundred meters away from the road, guarding the horses for all of them and both watched their arrival with quite a relief. They were supposed to join the attackers too at first, but once they had spotted just four men accompanying the delivery, it was not necessary and Esler proposed the brothers should remain there as a back-up. Leo didn´t protest much, he knew his companions well enough to know they could handle it without him. Jin assumed that Esler wanted to mainly protect the young leader, but he also sensed that the man still didn´t trust him yet.

The mentioned man appeared among the trees as the last of the five and from behind he threw a cone directly at Koki´s head.

“Have you got a slightest idea what a _silent retreat_ means?” Esler scolded the blonde gangster, staring at the others, who just started to laugh again, before he approached Leo with a shaking head. ”It went without any problems, maybe even too well, I´d say…”

“Don´t be such a grouch, Cullen,” Koki stuck out his tongue.

“Too pessimistic as always,” one of the others, who was called Patrick, if Jin remembered well, joined the blonde one. “They had no idea we might knew about their top-top-secret delivery. They thought they would be stealthy in the small numbers, heh.”

“All of you are too reckless,” the older man snorted, without paying the laughing bunch much attention. “Anyway, I let Ryo cover our retreat, as you wanted,” he told to Leo again.

“Great job, guys,” Leo reacted smiling widely. “We will count it later in safety, now let´s go!”

*

 

Once the Riders got on their horses, Kame and Harvey had to speed their pursuit up as well, otherwise they would have lost the track of them easily. It was damn hard to do it really quietly, but Kame was used to stealthy movement through the woods, and Harvey was not exactly the noisy one either.

But it seemed that Kame was better at tracking, as he was the one getting them in the right direction twice, spotting some broken twigs or hoof prints in the soft ground. Once he even had to return for the hunter as the man went a little more astray, and found Harvey somehow nervous, at least that was how Kame would describe it.

“Hey… Is anything wrong?” Kame asked rather whispering, when he noticed that the hunter stared at the top of the rock above them frowning.

“Nothing… Just imagining something…” Harvey turned his attention to the younger one. “Look, they seem to keep the west direction, right?”

Kame nodded: “More or less, yes.”

“There is an old mine that way, it might be their hideout. I know the shortcut to it. So how about we split and cover more space?” the hunter suggested. “I can overtake them, while you keep going right after them. You are more than able to, as I see...”

 “Well, are you sure about that shortcut?” the younger one was surprised about the hunter´s idea, but it made sense. Like that it was less probable that the gang would slip away somewhere.

“Yes, I am,” Harvey nodded self-confidant. “I did some job there a year ago. Moreover, one will make less noise than two; we should avoid being spotted as much as possible. It´s not far, just two miles I guess. There is a difficult terrain around, they have to pass it. I will wait for you either there or back on the north road within two hours. What do you say?”

“All right,” Kame agreed with Harvey´s reasoning still a little hesitantly.

“See you later then,” Harvey nodded and spurred his stallion to climb up among some bushes, parting with the direction Kame was supposed to follow. What the bounty hunter said made sense, but still he watched his figure disappearing between the trees with a strange feeling.

*

 

Ryo caught up with the rest of the gang soon, but it seemed to Jin he was rushing his horse more than was necessary…

“Well?” Leo was the first one stopping to face the youngster. “How did it go?”

“The coach got to the crossroad, they will be found soon enough,” the black-haired guy informed them, as he reached his leader, but without his usual smile. “But there is something else. It seems we are followed, Leo.”

Jin was already listening tensely, while the others also noticed something was off and turned their horses back.

“What did you see?” Leo asked frowning, all serious.

“Two riders, slipping behind you into the woods. They came from the other side and crossed the road just at the spot of our ambush…”

“Maybe they had some back-up after all,” Cullen assumed, already at the side of Leo´s horse.

Ryo shook his head seriously, strangely upset: “They don´t belong to Tabor… I think I recognized one of them.”

“Who was it?” the Riders´ leader asked silently.

“I´m not sure, they were far, but… I think it´s that hunter-bastard. I think it was Harvey.”

“That son of a bitch who was after us in Wyoming already?” Koki exclaimed. “He is still alive?”

“I intend to change that soon enough,” Ryo reacted darkly.

It seemed that the mentioned man was not exactly popular within the gang. Jin´s brother stared at the still silent woods for a while, thinking, before he turned to Esler.

“Do you think they were expecting us to appear and they let us steal that delivery, so that they could follow us then?”

“It is not impossible…” Cullen murmured nodding.

“We should deal with them. Like right now,” Ryo insisted. “That jack is breathing for too long for my taste.”

Leo nodded slowly: “We will definitely not let them find out about our hideout. Even if only because of Oswald…”

“We will take care of it, Leo. You should continue. It´s you he is after in the first place,” Cullen stated seriously.

“That´s right, that asshole is a walking moneybox,” Koki snorted.

“All right, we split up,” Leo decided promptly. “Cullen, you, Patrick and Todd - sneak back to face them. Ryo, take Jack and Carl - make a turn and try to surprise them from the side. On foot, leave the horses back here, behind that rock. Me, Jin and Koki will continue in the same direction to keep giving them a track. I doubt they would notice the change easily; it will be dark soon.”

Everybody gathered just as Leo said, immediately ready to rush back.

“And guys,” Leo´s voice stopped them yet. “Be careful.”

*

 

The deeper into the woods Ukushi carried her master, the more doubtful Kame was about Harvey´s previous words.

What made the bounty hunter to change his victorious mood so suddenly and why would he propose to split up? It was _so_ convenient to try and overrun the Riders, no matter if they really headed towards the mines or not; it would have been easier to just keep on their track. So why did Harvey…?

Ukushi snorted a little. Despite that the mare didn´t seem nervous and continued moving, Kame pulled on the reins stopping her and scanned the shadows surrounding them. The forest was quiet and no danger in sight.

What might Harvey have noticed before? What if he thought that they had been noticed? That would make the most sense… If somebody from the Rider´s group spotted them and Harvey somehow realized that, he let Kame ride further as a distraction, while he scrammed or hid himself, waiting for a better chance…

Kame didn´t sense or hear anything strange yet, but still… Maybe there was too quiet around, and also darker with each minute.

He dismounted Ukushi swiftly, and led her behind the nearest thick tree, so that her color would not give him out. He left the mare standing there and with all his senses on alert rushed forward a few meters in the same direction and froze, listening to any possible sounds for a while, before he did the same again.

It was for the fifth time he remained absolutely motionless, letting his instincts work, when his caution paid off. There were no sounds of horses, but the footsteps of more than one man. And he heard it much closer, than he would like to, despite the fact that he didn´t see the strangers yet.

Kame glanced around for a convenient spot to hide and he noticed a conifer, which was not so tall, so its branches were low enough, but still could hide him well. As silently as he was only able to, Kame climbed a few meters up the tree. He settled on the branch, which seemed strong enough and remained motionless.

It took less than a minute before Kame was able to recognize the two figures between the trees and hold his breath. Once again he was reminded to trust his instincts…

The men were proceeding forward very carefully, with guns in their hands, communicating only with gestures. They were clothed in black, that was for sure, and they expected somebody in their tracks. Both Riders walked almost right under the tree at which anxious Kame was hiding. He watched them to continue in the direction from which he came, and where he had wisely left Ukushi; she would have exposed him in no time if Kame had continued with her.

Well, it seemed that the sneaky pursuit would be a little difficult now…

Kame waited till the men´s feet were not heard anymore and he retreated from his hiding spot quickly. There was not much to figure out. He had to hide for the moment with Ukushi and wait until they gave up the search. To hell with Harvey, the hunter was probably long gone. He chose a little different direction than the Riders and climbed over the fallen tree with the intention to get back to his dear mare as fast as possible and…

An awfully loud sound of the trigger made Kame freeze the moment his feet touched the ground again.

“Hands up,” the ice-cold voice of somebody, who was probably hiding exactly on that spot, which Kame so unluckily chose for his retreat, hissed with exactly so much threat, which told him that he should rather do exactly what was said.

Kame moved with both his hands slowly up in the air.

“Aren´t you unlucky, boy?” the stranger asked caustically. “I really didn´t expect you come running right into my arms… Turn around, and slowly.”

Once again, Kame did as he was told and turned to face the dark mouth of a revolver aiming at his head from a really unpleasant closeness.

“I´d stay still if I were you, or my finger might slip…” the older man in black clothes warned him with a dangerous smile, before he approached Kame and with one swift move he collected his guns before stepping back again and hid them somewhere inside his coat.

Then the Rider placed two fingers between his lips and a sharp whistle, similar to a screech-owl, interrupted the evening´s silence.

It was an awfully tense minute, with neither Kame nor the man saying anything, just the revolver between them was announcing quite clearly who had control over the situation. The other two men came back with much more noise than before, and they were leading Ukushi behind them. The mare didn´t seem much disturbed and she just shook her head, once she spotted Kame.

“He hid it close,” one of the black man´s companions announced. “No sign of the other one though…”

“Clever, boy, but not fast enough,” the man threatening Kame snorted. “Check him for more weapons and let´s move.”

Quite a young Rider, not much older than Kame himself, searched his clothes properly and found two knives. Then they incited Kame to move roughly in the same direction he was following the gang before.

To say that he was in big troubles now would be quite an understatement. While trying to keep his balance under the hard pushes forward, Kame was trying to figure out what to say so that they would believe him…

Quite soon their group arrived to the small glade, surrounded with a few huge boulders, where the Riders hid their own horses. Before the oldest man managed to prepare the lanterns for some light, a short singing signal came out of the woods and three more Riders appeared.

“You´ve got him, good,” one of them noted, seeing Kame between his two captors.

“That bastard scrammed though,” the young black-haired guy riding as the last of the three snapped angrily, marching towards them. “We saw him racing his horse down the road; it was too late to catch up with him.”

“Damn…” the man, who had his pleasure to capture Kame, reacted annoyed. “Well, at least this one is enough for now,” he hung the lantern on a branch above their heads and placed the second one on a small rock, while the others gathered around and observed Kame with obvious dislike.

It was almost impossible, but Kame was still trying to stick onto his composure. He had to at least try… They didn´t shoot him right away, so what was there to lose?

“Would you believe me if I told you, I´m not here because of the money?” he stated, looking right into the oldest man´s face.

It was a mistake. In the next moment a hard strike into his stomach made Kame bend over and gasp for breath. It was the angry black-haired one who hit him and then grabbed Kame´s arm to keep him standing. One of his companions did the same from the other side and they both pushed Kame back and slammed with him on the nearest tree.

 _Obviously not…_ Kame thought helplessly, as he raised his head again, to bear the sharp glance of the oldest man.

“How many of you are here?” the man asked the first question.

Kame took his breath and stated the obvious: “I´m alone.”

Another hit almost made him throw up his stomach out. Gasping for breath Kame tried again: “I´m telling you the truth…”

This time the strong blow aimed at his neck from the right side, then there was a kick into his left knee and after that he stopped perceiving the affected places on his body. The three Riders beat him hard, before they picked him up from the ground and forced him to stand straight again.

Kame felt dizzy and sore; there was blood in his mouth, and his guts in a hard clutch. Just _how_ could he explain this to them…?

“Let me give you a piece of advice, boy,” the old man snorted. “I do not like liars.”

The rest of the gang kept quiet, with the two youngsters still gripping Kame so hard they almost stopped his blood flow, and all of them just stared at him with hostility in their eyes.

“Where did that hunter go?” there was another question.

Kame was in pain and worried, but also determined not to give in to despair so easily. He was so _close_ ; he was sure that Jin´s younger brother was the leader of these gunmen, how could he give up now? He had to fight… He looked right into the eyes of the man interrogating him.

“I´m not a liar. I have no idea where he went.”

At first the man wanted to hit him again, but something in Kame´s face, made him to hesitate.

“We did follow you together,” Kame spoke again hastily, as long as he could. “But we split a while ago. He lied to me about meeting up later…”

“Too bad for you,” the youngster holding his right arm smirked.

“Who are you?” the old man asked suspiciously.

“Not a bounty hunter,” Kame replied firmly. “I´m not after…”

“Then how comes you were with one?” a young voice cut in once again. The black-haired gangster seemed to be the most upset from all of them.

Kame just cursed in his mind for being so unlucky. If they knew Harvey, they would hardly believe him anything now. The interrogator snatched Kame for his coat and pulled him closer.

“I´ll ask again, boy… Who are you?”

Upset and hopeless Kame tried to shake the hands off him: “You will not believe me even if I tell the truth!”

He even managed to avoid another hit, as he had expected it and with fear controlling his body Kame tried to break free. But he was outnumbered.

Two young gangsters shifted with Kame roughly against the bole again, while the older man got a hold of his hair, and with rage in the eyes raised his hand for another painful blow. But the man´s fist never reached its goal, as somebody grabbed the interrogator´s wrist in the last second and held him back.

“What the…!” the Rider snapped at the tall young man, who glared at him from behind the rim of his hat.

The rest of the gang stared at the newcomer on the scene surprised as well.

“Hands off, Esler,” an angry voice, the voice so well-known to Kame, said with resolution, which allowed no space for objections.

Kazuya forgot to breathe, as he straightened his head from the cowered position in which he was prepared to receive another hit, afraid to believe his ears or eyes, which found that beautiful face so unexpectedly close. The one who came to save him was Jin.


	9. A matter of trust

**J** in could not figure out what was causing his uneasiness. They had left more than enough gang members behind to deal with any possible pursuers and Leo seemed to be quite sure they could continue in their way back to the safe cottage undisturbed. His older brother considered the Black Riders being able to get rid of anyone who was stupid enough to track them as well, but still… That anxious urge didn´t ease up until Jin proposed to go back to make sure that they were not pursued anymore and there were no more enemies hiding, and Leo reluctantly let him go.

Kuro carried him back through the woods patiently and fast, sensing his master´s compulsion to rush. Jin knew he should have kept his senses on full alert, but he was weirdly distracted. So much that one low-hanging branch would hit him over the head, if he didn´t notice it in the last second and crouched in the saddle.

It took less time than Jin had expected, before he noticed the yellow lights in the otherwise already completely dark forest. He was afraid that he was too far from the spot where they had split up, but Jin´s nervousness was playing with his perception of time, so he actually found the rest of the gang quite quickly. The shining eyes of kerosene lanterns led him directly to the right place.

The gang was gathered in a small circle around a high tree, and only when Jin got to just a few meters from them, he noticed why - it seemed that one of the search groups succeeded. Nobody noticed Jin´s arrival, since they were all focused on the young man, to whom they decided to give a lesson in interrogation. Their captive cowering under the shower of hits seemed somehow familiar to Jin and he rode even closer to have a better look…

Then Ryo and Patrick pulled the youngster up and the light fell on the beautiful face, which features were contorted in pain. Jin´s heart skipped a beat.

After all those weeks of faint hopes and no solid proof that his dear friend was on his way south as he had promised, that place and that time were the least expected circumstances under which Jin had imagined too see Kazuya again.

“You will not believe me even if I tell the truth!”

He could not mistake that desperate voice with anyone else´s.

Three Riders jumped at their young captive again and immobilized him, while Esler swung with his fist, definitely not for the first time, as Jin could see some blood and bruises on Kame´s face. He didn´t remember dismounting Kuro or the number of steps which took him to the group. He was just right there, grabbing Esler´s wrist, before the man could hit Kame again.

“What the…!” Esler turned to him angrily, but he was definitely not as angry as the older one of the Akanishi´s brothers at that moment.

Jin was looking forward to meet with the former bartender for eight damn-long weeks and now, when Kame was finally there, he found him beaten up? He faintly realized that the Riders, who stared at his appearance wordlessly, didn´t know Kame, and that was what just barely held him back from punching the gunman right in his face.

“Hands off, Esler,” he hissed resolutely.

The older man tried to slip from Jin´s grip, but didn´t succeed at all, which he noted with a little surprise.

“Let him go,” Jin repeated, gritting the words through his teeth. “Now.”

Esler repaid Jin´s fierce glance for a while, the dark frown all over his forehead, before he finally stopped squeezing the young man´s hair and retreated. Only then Jin let the gunman´s wrist go as well, but remained on alert, ready to fight them all if necessary.

“What´s your fucking problem, Akanishi?!” Esler exclaimed more than upset.

The others observed him confusedly as well; just Ryo was guarding their captive with stabbing look, not paying attention to the rupture. Except the Riders, Jin felt the warm eyes upon himself, but he didn´t dare to repay Kazuya´s glance, not yet. He had to deal with everybody else first.

“I will not let you beat him,” he stated firmly.

“Are you kidding, Jin?” Ryo snapped at him then. “He is one of those who were after us!”

“That can be surely explained,” Akanishi reacted stubbornly. “Just let him talk and…”

“He is only full of excuses and lies,” Esler snorted.

“I´m quite sure he was telling you the truth…” Jin objected.

“How can you say that, damn it?!” Ryo exclaimed impatiently. “Do you know him so well or what?!”

Jin took a breath, just shortly considering, what his next statement might cause: “Yes, I know him.”

Everybody was baffled for a few tense seconds and Jin tried to use that silence for explanation.

“He is not going after Leo, it´s that…”

Esler, ignoring his talking completely, grabbed Jin´s coat and pulled him closer. Kame shifted in the grip of his captor uneasily, but Ryo just pressed him harder against a bole behind.

“Listen to me, kiddo…” the gunman spoke in a dangerously cold voice. “I´m quite fed up with your nose sticking into _everything_. I´m not your little brother to trust every word you say!”

“I´m not asking for that,” Jin reacted, forcing his hands to stay down along his thighs. “But I tell you the truth.”

“How can we know that?” Todd asked aggressively, while Esler just stared into Jin´s eyes.

“He came along with that bounty hunter, Jin,” Ryo added sharply. “There´s no way we would let him go just because you say so.”

“I could not say it better,” Esler finished and pushed Akanishi away from himself roughly.

Jin quickly realized that this argument was a lost battle for him from the very start. Esler turned back to the young captive, who was observing their exchange of opinions anxiously.

“Tie him up,” he ordered strictly. “It was enough of this foolish talk already. We will deal with him as Leo decides.”

Jin moved forward and stood between Esler and Kame, in the last attempt to persuade them Kame was no threat.

“Then tie me up as well!” he requested fiercely.

“What? What is this nonsense now?” annoyed Esler snapped, while Ryo looked at Jin really curiously now.

“I trust this guy with my life!” Jin announced relentlessly. “If you take him as a captive, do the same with me then!”

The older man´s face went a little red at that moment, his eyes shining in rage.

“Fine! As you wish!”

Jin didn´t move an inch, even though his last hope had just died. No matter the result he insisted on his decision and remained standing there motionless.

“But, Cullen… Jin is…” Ryo spoke up hesitantly.

“Silence!” Esler hushed any objections immediately. “He asked for it! He can explain it to his brother himself! I don´t care! Tie them both and let´s go!”

Before Jin managed to turn, Ryo and Patrick had already dragged Kame towards the horses, while Carl, Jack and Todd approached him not so happily.

“We should… take your guns,” Jack was the one saying it, while the others eyed him carefully.

Jin sighed heavily and rather raised both hands in the air to allow them to unarm him. It was safer than take the revolvers himself, as they might have saw it as an attack…

*

 

At the first moment, when the Riders demanded the explanation of Jin´s interference, Kame almost thought that the older guy would pretend not knowing him and make something up to keep their trust… But he should have known his handsome lover better already…

They led him to the horses and the youngster with very dark hair, one of those beating him before, bound both Kame´s wrists together firmly and then he tied the end of the rope to Ukushi´s saddle. He didn´t say anything during the process, but Kame noticed his expression was curious rather than angry. Jin´s words made him doubt at least.

Shortly after that they brought also Kuro and along with him Jin, with whom they dealt in the same way as with Kame and they started to get ready for the departure.

Kuro stepped a little forward, snorting impatiently, as if he could not wait to set off and he dragged his master right next to Kame like that, before he nudged Ukushi welcomingly.

“Damn…” Jin observed his tied up hands rather unhappily, before he turned his head towards the younger one.

Suddenly their situation didn´t seem so bad, when Kame could look into those dark eyes, with a warming shining deep inside of them. It still felt somehow unreal, to see Jin next to him, no matter how close he was. All things considered, they were damn lucky to find each other like this…

“Sorry for such a welcome, Kame…” Jin apologized sighing heavily, but still a happy smile played on his lips, which the younger one repaid feeling much more at ease than he should have been.

“I´m still alive, so I take it as a win,” he replied, not being able to tear his eyes off that face he missed so much. Jin looked almost the same as he remembered, just his hair was longer. “But I have to say that this was not your most clever idea of all…” he added raising his tied hands up a little.

“It was the best I could come up with at the moment,” the older one objected a little offended. “I didn´t really expect you to appear like that.”

“Believe me, Jin, I did not expect that either,” Kame assured him.

Right after that they both almost tripped over their own legs, when their ropes pulled them forward suddenly. Sinking in each other´s eyes they didn´t even notice that the Riders were ready to go.

“Anyway, I´m glad you´re here,” Jin said grinning happily, before Kuro was led more forward by Ryo and Jin stumbled behind him, while Ukushi led by other youngster followed them.

Considering the recent confrontation caused exactly by his presence, Kame was quite worried that he would bring only troubles to Jin, but still, he was unbelievably relieved to see the handsome gunslinger again as well…

***

 

Leo didn´t smoke often. Not only that Jane didn´t like it, the cigarettes also reminded him of his late father, whose clothes stank like a pile of dung behind an old saloon in the last years of the man´s miserable life. But from time to time he broke his habit, as during that serious conversation with his older brother, or as right now, when he was waiting for his Riders to come back.

A little orange light at the end of his handmade cigarette was the only bright spot on the spacious veranda of Oswald´s house; he wanted to keep his eyes accustomed to the dark, so that he could spot anyone who might pop out from the woods right away. With quickly passing hours it was harder to suppress his worries and some upset ideas were filling up his mind…

He should have ridden back with Jin; he would have known what was going on at least. Leo hated sitting there in safety, while the others risked their lives for him. He was already fed up of being over-protected. He was well-aware of their situation, and he also understood the reasons for his friends and especially Cullen being so stubborn in keeping him out of any unnecessary problems. He argued with them more than once because of their attitude, but they always insisted that they wanted to pay him back for what he had already done for them before. Leo _could_ accept such reasoning, but he considered that so-called debt paid back long ago already and he was determined to get back to the first line. They chose him for their leader, so he should act as one in _everything_.

The old hinges of the front door creaked and then soft steps were heard, but Leo didn´t turn towards the intruder of his sulking watch; he knew who came out to check on him.

The warm hands touched his shoulders first, and then one of them moved to his open-necked shirt and caressed him across the bare skin tenderly.

“I´m sure they will be back soon,” the woman´s voice behind his back said. Just the sound of it and that comforting touch eased Leo up a little. “Don´t trouble yourself so much…”

Impulsively, Leo grabbed the slim fingers with his free hand and kissed them softly.

“You know I can´t help it,” he sighed.

“You can try,” there was a sign of amusement in Jane´s voice now. “They are all grown up men and they can take care of themselves. Well, _most_ of them are, at least.”

Leo put down the cigarette butt and swiftly stood up, capturing the brunette in his arms, before she could retreat. Not that she would have even tried.

Jane was five years older than him, but she showed Leo more than once that their age difference mattered a little to her, as well as to him. They were of the same height and of the same opinions. He liked how she was able to put away her serious adult approach and behave as a young girl, and she always said that he won her by behaving as an adult despite his young age. They both felt to be in harmony with the other and that was much more than what they ever had before with anyone else.

“Are you mocking the Black Riders again, dear?” he asked pretending to be reproachful.

“Oh, I would not dare,” Jane replied winking at her lover and circled her arms around Leo´s neck.

“I´m almost tempted to believe you.”

Jane leant closer and pecked Leo´s lips briefly.

“Only almost?” she asked playfully.

Capturing her offering lips in a passionate kiss helped Leo to push his pessimistic thoughts away quite quickly. They could not spend time together too often now, but he treasured those common moments all the more because of it. He didn´t say it aloud, but he was really glad when she decided to stay for a while and not go back to Leadville with other four gang members, whom he sent there to wait for the outcome of their ambush and new orders.

“Maybe I will reconsider it, if you try to persuade me harder,” he stated running across her cheek with his thumb.

Jane´s smile shined even in the dark of night, promising him something more than only ´trying´. Before he could kiss her again, encouraged by that smile, their attention was attracted the sounds of approaching horses.

“Finally,” Leo breathed out, releasing Jane from his embrace.

The returning Riders were carrying a few lanterns, whose light was blinking among trees as they headed towards the cottage. But soon the relief on Leo´s face exchanged its place with confusion, when the group got close enough for them to recognize each member.

Cullen, obviously not in a good mood, was riding in the lead, behind him Ryo and Jack, and they were both pulling the reins of two other horses – Jin´s stallion and a white mare, which Leo never saw. What baffled him, and Jane as well, were two tied up men walking behind the animals, attached to them with the long ropes.

Leo stared at that strange arrival for a while, not capable of a word, before a dangerous shine found its place in his eyes.

“Call Koki,” he uttered towards Jane, before he headed down the veranda, to meet the group.

*

 

For a half of their way back Jin was trying to prepare himself for another confrontation, as he could clearly imagine that his little brother would not be pleased with the way of their return. And Leo seemed really unhappy at the moment they reached the space in front of Oswald´s house.

“What the hell is it _now_?!” Leo´s voice didn´t sound much welcoming, as he stomped to meet his gang. “Cullen! Would you be so kind and explained, why is my brother tied up?” the young leader snapped at the older man.

“I think that your dear brother is the master of explanations here,” Esler snorted not very calmly either and dismounted his horse, as did the others.

Jin and Kame were both relieved they had finally reached their destination, as their feet were already aching from long and difficult march, but it didn´t seem their relief would last long. Ryo approached them, to untie the ropes from the saddles of their horses, while Esler pointed at Jin.

“I´m sure he has a lot to tell you,” he stated caustically, literally piercing the air with his finger.

“I require the explanation from you first, Cullen,” Leo reminded the older man in a cold tone.

“Fine,” Esler made a few quick steps and grabbed Kame´s still-tied hands to drag him towards Leo, which Jin, still waiting for Ryo to detach him from Kuro, observed very unsatisfied. “This youngster was following us along with Ralph Harvey. Just when we were interrogating him, your brother appeared, claiming that he is his friend,” he informed the leader shortly.

“What?” baffled Leo glanced from Cullen to Kame and then to Jin, who attempted to get closer to them as well, but Ryo held him back strictly, even though he seemed to be really confused now.

“As I said!” Esler confirmed his statement angrily. “This is the kind of friends your brother has!”

“Leo, listen to me, I can…” Jin´s attempt to talk was interrupted by a surprised voice of another young gangster, who just joined their group outside.

“Holy crap! It _is_ you!”

It was the blonde Rider, who pushed himself through Jack and Todd and remained standing right in front of Kame, who kept his careful silence till that moment, and now stared at the guy with his eyes wide in surprise.

“Koki…?” the doubtful question was the first what Kame said since they had arrived.

“Handsome! You´re the last person I expected to see today!” Koki patted the younger´s shoulder whole-heartedly, totally ignoring all the shocked eyes around. Only then the blonde guy also noticed the ties over Kame´s wrists. “What the fuck is this?” he exclaimed.

“I have the same question, damn it!” Esler reacted furiously. “ _You know him_ as well?!”

“The hell, I do!” Koki snorted. “He is the one who helped me to escape from the quarry! Why did you tie him up?”

“This is a little crazy…” Ryo standing next to Jin murmured, while the other guy was trying to put the pieces of information together. Kame was the one who helped Tanaka to get away from Grenet and Cameron? How did he get there at all? Why would he risk meeting with Grenet again?

“Why?!” the older man huffed out. “Because he ganged up with Harvey, that´s why!”

“Eh?” Koki reacted not very comprehendingly.

“That´s bullshit!” Jin cut in sharply, shook Ryo´s hand off finally and rushed to the middle of small circle.

“Still so persuaded about his good intentions?” Esler snapped at him.

“Yes, damn it!” Jin confirmed ferociously, already tired with the doubts of the older man.

“Is it true?” Koki asked staring at Kame. “You and that hunter…?”

“No,” the handsome captive shook his head immediately. “I just wanted to find…”

“Oh, shut up! I´ve heard enough of your excuses!” Esler shifted with the youngster quite violently.

“Let him go already, or I swear I will kick your ass!” Jin burst out furiously, with Ryo holding him up again, this time with both hands.

“My knees are shaking in fear,” Esler grunted in response.

“I can´t believe that Kame would have…” Koki scrubbed his short hair helplessly.

“I saw them riding behind us together,” Ryo reminded them frowning, fighting against Jin´s attempts to release himself.

“I can explain that,” Kame tried again. “Seriously, guys, I meant no harm to any of you…”

“I bet that explanation will be worth of five bags of gold!” furious Esler reacted.

“Definitely more than your brain is worth of!” Jin hissed.

“Don´t think that you can…!” Cullen took a breath for a reply.

“Enough!” a deadly serious order shut all the mouths immediately. The echo of it disappeared in the woods and the place went quiet. “That is _enough_ ,” Leo repeated not so loudly, but still in a voice sharp as blade.

Nobody dared to utter a word. The young leader´s eyes were piercing everybody through, one after another, including Jin, who wanted to speak again, but that look made him to reconsider it. Then Leo focused his glance only at Kame, who repaid it unwaveringly.

“Koki.”

The blonde one looked at his leader, one big question on his face.

“Untie him.”

Esler took a breath: “Leo…”

A raised hand silenced any other objections. Cullen gulped the next words down, frowning unsatisfied, while Koki grinned somehow relieved.

“Gladly, Chief,” the blonde guy stepped closer to Kame and with a quick movements he cut the ties with his knife. The rests of the rope fell down to the surprised Kame´s feet. “No matter the circumstances, it´s good to see you again so soon,” Koki remarked with a small smile playing on his lips.

The younger one was still too absorbed with the situation to be able of more than just a faint nod.

“Kame, right?” Leo asked, still looking only at the young stranger, when Koki stepped aside.

“Yes…” Kazuya nodded slowly.

“I want to talk with you. Come with me.”

“Leo, I….” Jin tried to mingle into it again.

“Everybody else stays here,” Leo interrupted firmly. “ _Everybody_ ,” he repeated, his eyes connecting with his brother´s and then Cullen´s. “Let him go,” he said, when he noticed that the older man was still gripping Kame´s arm hard.

Esler was obviously against the idea and it took him a while before he obeyed the order.

“I will be right behind the door,” he said anyway and Leo didn´t objected.

The younger Akanishi just turned on his heels and headed to the house, not waiting for Kame, who remained standing there for a moment, before he realized that nobody was holding him back anymore, so he followed the Riders´ leader hesitantly, while Jin was watching their leaving with upset feelings boiling inside of him.

*

 

“Sit.”

Kame obeyed the short instruction and sat down on the chair, which Leo Akanishi placed in the middle of the cozy and warm room. Jin´s brother himself stood in front of the fireplace, and observed his seated guest closely. There was more curiosity than hostility in his eyes, but Kame didn´t let himself feel any relief because of that. No matter the unexpected wish of the younger Akanishi to talk, his position, and consequently also Jin´s, was still pretty bad.

They were now alone, but he could still faintly hear the excited voices of argument among Koki and that old man who interrogated him, whom they called Cullen.

Kame used those few moments of silence, when Akanishi was just studying him without a word, to judge the other guy as well. Leo was really very similar to Jin, even more than Kame had expected. But still, his features were different from the older brother in a way, which left no doubt in Kame that he would be able to tell them apart anytime. Despite his age, Akanishi´s eyes gave out an impression of an older man and his stance was firm and confident. And according to the reactions of other Riders, he had quite a respect among them.

“I really want to clear this misunderstanding up,” Leo spoke finally, surprisingly calmly. “As quickly, and smoothly, as is only possible. So, I strongly recommend you to answer my questions truthfully.”

Kame nodded, a little anxious now. Akanishi´s voice was not as deep as the one he knew so familiarly, but still it reminded him of Jin who was waiting outside, probably not less nervous than himself.

“Who are you and how did you meet my brother?”

Kame took a slow breath, gathering his thoughts, before he started talking, and he talked for very long time…

*

 

For the first few seconds Jin was just lost on words. He watched as his brother and then also Kame disappeared in the cottage. Shortly after, Oswald and Jane came out, closing the door behind them, and they joined the rest of the gang at the fireplace.

Then, after a furious exchange of opinions with the blonde gangster, Esler, more pissed than ever, settled close to one of the pillars on the veranda, and seemed to be willing to shoot down anyone, who might want to go inside or even come out. While Koki marched away from him, he didn´t give Jin more than one glance and grabbed both Kuro´s and Ukushi´s reins to lead them to the back of the property, to put them together with their horses.

Just Ryo remained by Jin´s side and observed him hesitantly.

“Is he really your friend?” a silent question tore Jin off his numbness and he turned to face the young gangster, who was kind of lacking his previous anger.

“I would have been dead not being for him,” Jin stated seriously.

Ryo hesitated for a while, before he pulled Jin´s wrists closer to him and started to untie the rope carefully.

“Do you have any idea why would he go along with that bounty hunter?” he raised another question then.

“Well…” Jin thought about his response carefully. “I suppose he wanted to find us as soon as possible and that man was his chance for it. Kame was only using him. I didn´t make it very easy for him…” he sighed in the end.

“What do you mean?” Ryo asked curiously, as he pulled off the rope, and Jin massaged his wrists with quite a relief.

“It´s quite a long way down here from Montana… We had an agreement to meet up in Denver, but we somehow missed each other. I didn´t have a chance to let him know I was in Leadville; you stopped my telegram,” he reminded caustically.

“So, you really don´t think that he would be after Leo?” Ryo asked, not commenting on Jin´s complaint.

“No way!” Jin snapped, upset again. “Kame offered to help me find him, but he doesn´t care about money at all!”

Ryo´s wide, surprised eyes told Jin that he maybe overreacted a little.

“Sorry… It´s just that all of this is…”

“Such a mess?” Ryo finished with a small smile.

“Yeah…” Jin breathed out. “I really need to take a break… Can I sit somewhere without a guard or you´ll be my baby sitter now?”

This time, Ryo´s grin was more believable: “Just don´t go off Esler´s eyes, buddy. I guess he would have started shooting in this mood of his…”

*

 

“So, the common enemy made you two friends, huh?” Leo sitting on the window sill noted after Kame finished his narration.

“It can be said like that,” he admitted.

“Then when Jin decided to search for me, you followed him later. And on the way here you met Harvey in Denver and agreed to cooperate with him to find us more easily, because you had no new message from my brother.”

“Exactly. I never intended to help that hunter to achieve that reward. It was the very opposite – I wanted to prevent him from catching you. But I know it´s hardly believable in this situation…”

“All right, it´s more clear to me now…” Leo stated slowly. “But still… I don´t understand why are you here?”

Kame shifted in the chair a little, licking his dry lips. He would have really welcomed a glass of properly cooled beer right now. Leo let him talk and listened to him carefully, but his questions and sharp glance had not a very calming effect on him.

“We agreed that once the Blackfeet Tribe will be moved, I will follow Jin to help him find you,” he summarized his previous words.

“Yes, but why?” Leo insisted, narrowing his eyes. “Why do you even care?”

Something bitter stuffed Kame´s throat, but he gulped it down, before it could turn out into a nasty response. Leo had no clue about what the two of them had been through…

“That´s what friends do – helping each other, don´t you think?” he asked stiffly.

“Well… You two know each other for like what? Five months? It just surprises me you would be willing to do so much for my brother.”

Kame stood up slowly, repaying the younger guy´s glance.

“It´s not about for _how long_ we are friends. I understand that you don´t trust me, Leo,” he stated firmly. “I´m not very fond of robberies and such stuff, but I can swear I´m not after you or the rest of the gang. I would have never done anything what would hurt Jin. I´m on his side and that means I´m on your side as well.”

The younger Akanishi observed Kame for a very long moment after this statement, not showing what he thought about it, but something else than suspicion appeared in his eyes finally. Then he straightened up and came closer.

“I believe you, Kame…” Leo said seriously. “I know my brother and he doesn´t trust anyone easily. But he has faith in you. Moreover, you saved Koki, and I owe you for that. Basically, that´s enough for me…”

“Thank you…” Kame breathed out in relief.

“But…” the Rider´s leader emphasized then. “That doesn´t mean it will be enough for the rest of us. In this case, it cannot be only me to decide about you.”

“Meaning?” Kame asked fully on alert again.

“We will talk with the others first, too…” Leo replied relentlessly. “Then we will see.”


	10. Gangsters´ voting

**E** verybody else was already inside, when Jin entered the room, which was almost too warm in comparison with the cold February evening outside. The Riders were either sitting on the long benches around the dining table, or standing near the walls. Oswald was busy with the fireplace, and Jane made herself comfortable on the table, her long legs hanging above the floor and Leo occupied the only available, and quite old, armchair in front of her. Frowning Esler was standing right next to his young boss, with arms crossed over his chest. The up-until-now-spacious room was overcrowded, as there were twelve people now, and paradoxically silent. But there was only one person about whom Jin really cared at the moment.

The latest visitor of the hidden cottage was sitting on a chair almost exactly in the middle of the room. Koki was the only one of the Riders, excluding Leo, who was not piercing the young man with his eyes.

When Kazuya´s glance met with Jin´s for a brief moment, the older one´s attempt for an encouraging smile turned out pretty pitifully, even though he really wanted to cheer the poor guy up.

“Thanks for joining us, Brother,” the Riders´ leader disturbed the anxious silence.

Not very willingly Jin focused on his younger brother. He could not read anything from Leo´s expression and was a little worried about what to expect.

“We can start then…” Leo leant forward a little, making sure he had everyone´s attention. “I asked Kame to tell us everything he knows about Harvey first.”

A doubtful murmur filled up the room. Jin was surprised as well; he did not expect Kazuya to be the first one to talk.

“And before that I´d like to remind you that this will be a _serious discussion_ and not haggling at the market, which you demonstrated a while ago,” the younger Akanishi added in a cold voice, before turning towards the youngster in the middle of the room. “Kame, you can start.”

At first sight, Kazuya seemed to be calm and composed, but Jin noticed how he avoided all those sharp glances around and how he licked his dry lips before he started talking. Naturally, the guy was nervous about the outcome of this conversation.

Jin definitely felt no better than him, especially when he still did not get his weapons back. But he had already tried to persuade the Riders; now he could do nothing more than to stand next to Ryo and hold his tongue back not to make the situation even worse.

“I met him at the Blake Street Saloon,” Kame spoke in a little uncertain voice. “By chance he overheard when I asked about Jin, who was supposed to be accommodated there, and he figured we might cooperate in search after Leo, since I knew his brother. He assumed I was after the reward as well, and I thought that I might find you easier that way, so I agreed.”

“How did you know that our dear older Akanishi should have been in that saloon?” a sharp question came out from Esler´s mouth, of course.

“Because I sent him a telegram about the meeting point,” Jin cut in sooner than Kame could reply. The glances turned towards him. So much for his resolution to keep his mouth shut. “We had agreed on that in Montana already. Did you receive it, Kame?” he asked the younger one in a little different tone.

Kazuya´s eyes found Jin´s again and his expression eased up a little.

“I did,” he nodded. “But at the time I arrived you were already gone…”

“On my way to Leo,” Jin completed. “With you, guys,” he shot a glance at unsatisfied Esler.

“Anyway, we started the search together,” Kame continued. “I thought that if it came to the worst, at least I would be able to warn you or prevent him from succeeding in his mission. I wanted to use that hunter, but in the end I realized that _he_ was using _me_.”

“What do you mean?” Koki frowned over that statement curiously.

“All that time we traveled together, Harvey was trying to get information out of me,” Kame replied. “About Jin, about his brother, anything I could remember; even if it would be just assumptions. He is the type of person, who is able use anything for his benefit. Moreover, he was really well-informed, maybe even too well. He knew your gang is focused on the ambushes of deliveries belonging to certain Horace Tabor and he was quite sure you have a spy among his servants.”

Leo and Esler exchanged surprised glances, while the others seemed to be disturbed as well. Kame gained more certainty, noticing that everybody listened to him carefully and took a breath to tell them more.

“Harvey also said that he had a spy there as well, and he was informed about that big delivery to Leadville´s Bank. When we arrived to Leadville, he went to talk directly with the banker, which seemed odd to me. He came out with the info that the coach was about to arrive today, by that old north road, so we proceeded there right away. From how top secret it was supposed to be, I didn´t expect you to appear, but Harvey was really confident about it. As if he knew, you knew,” Kame continued seriously and firmly, causing even more displeased expressions to appear in the Riders´ faces. “After the ambush we followed you, and then he suggested splitting our ways. He told me that he knew a shortcut to some closed silver mine, which was in the direction you went. Only later I figured that he had probably noticed some of you realized we were following you and he escaped before you would get to us. And the rest of it you already know…”

The following short silence was tense, but somehow it was not so hostile towards the youngster anymore. Even Esler seemed to be bothered about the new information more now.

“I don´t like it,” Ryo snorted as the first. “How could he know about our informer?”

“I see only one explanation of that,” Esler stated slowly.

“You mean that Tabor had realized he has an over-talkative rat close to him?” Leo murmured thoughtfully.

“Exactly…” the man nodded. “And that would mean that Harvey works for him.”

“That would perfectly explain all the information he had,” Kame spoke again suddenly. “He mentioned something about his sources, but he never explained it any further.”

Hearing the words, and remembering his weird feeling when they found out that only two guards were accompanying the delivery, Jin had realized something.

“But in that case, if he was so sure you guys would ambush the delivery… They might have let that info leak on purpose,” he stated and the others gasped for breath, suddenly very upset.

“Then the bank delivery was a trap,” Leo noted, frowning darkly. “For Harvey to be able to follow us after…”

“Shit…” Ryo snorted, already connecting all the information together. “If that´s the case...”

The youngster rushed out of the door like a tornado, with others staring wordlessly for a while, before another very loud ´shit´ came from the corridor. Ryo was back with one of the stolen bags in  his left hand and in the other he held some notes. His face was awfully pale.

Leo stood up from his armchair promptly: “Don´t tell me that…!”

“There is like fifty dollars…” Ryo informed them, gritting his teeth. “The rest is just a useless pile of papers.”

The shocked Riders reacted with many curses, very silent Oswald just stood there motionless, the disappointment curved in all his facial features, while Leo stiffened like a statue.

“It _was_ a trap…” Koki kicked the nearest unoccupied chair, so that it flew to the opposite wall with a satisfying noise.

“We are screwed,” Ryo let the bag fall to the floor.

“And who´s the pessimist now, huh?” Esler grunted. “There still might be the real delivery coming,” he added, when the non-understanding looks turned to him.

“That´s right,” Leo admitted, but didn´t sound much positive.

“But if they knew about your spy, they might have tried to figure out who it was with this leak as well,” Kame said, as the Harvey´s behavior and arrogant talks before made sense to him finally.

“Hell! You´re right!” Ryo exclaimed.

“That might mean we are without our informer now…” Esler grunted.

“No money, no information, the bounty hunter on our backs… Anyone has anything optimistic?” Koki complained loudly.

“We have a new ally,” Leo stated slowly, and everyone went quiet again. Anxious Kame glanced at the young leader and Jin held himself back not to interfere this time. “My brother trusts Kame and I trust him as well now. But I want you all to decide if we let Kame stay among us or not,” Leo continued seriously.

Nobody said a thing. Then Esler moved and stood in front of Kame. All Jin´s muscles tensed up, watching the man´s movements closely, while Kame looked up to him.

“ _Why_ are you here?” Esler asked sharply.

It took a while before Kame replied: “Because I wanted to help Jin to find his brother.”

“Why?” Esler asked again immediately.

“Because Jin is my friend,” the younger one answered the question firmly.

The gunman kept silent for a while, before his right hand moved and grabbed Kame´s shirt, pulling the guy up from the chair. Jin made a step forward, before a strict glance of his younger brother warned him more than clearly not to do anything hasty.

“A _friend_ ,” Esler repeated. “Nice. And I´m supposed to believe you´re such a helpful buddy, right?” the gunman snapped directly in Kame´s face. “ _Everyone_ would go after that reward at the first opportunity, but not you?”

Kame´s hands were firmly clenched in fists, but remained alongside his thighs; he didn´t resist the grip, wisely deciding it would be in vain, anyway.

“Not me,” he confirmed relentlessly, already quite upset.

“Why would you care so much?” Esler kept asking.

“I said that…”

“We heard that already!” the gunman interrupted him rudely. “Why are you willing to do so much for him?!”

“Because I have nobody else left!” the suppressed emotions burst out from Kazuya, as he exclaimed so loud, that Jin flinched. The younger one was breathing heavily, and in his eyes there was something what made even Esler shut up. “Except of a few Indians, who once saved my life, I have nobody else I really care about!”

Esler went numb, still gripping on Kame´s shirt, but he was very silent now, as well as the rest of the room. Jin felt a hard squeeze inside of him, almost painful, but at the same time somehow comforting.

Leo approached the gunman and grabbed his shoulder: “Cullen…”

Finally, the gangster stepped back slowly, and Kame remained standing there with the expression, which left no doubt that he was deadly serious in what he had said. Esler retreated to the fireplace, while Leo stood next to Kame and ran his eyes over everyone in the room.

“Who is for Kame staying here with us?” he asked slowly.

Some Riders glanced at each other hesitantly, but only Koki stepped forward: “Naturally, I´m all in,” he stated with a grin.

Jin took a breath to say something too, but Leo beat him to it: “I know about you, Jin,” he stated not without understanding in his voice. “Your opinion is more than clear.”

“I agree, too,” Ryo joined in slowly.

“Good,” the gang´s leader took his vote into account.

“If somebody takes responsibility for _anything_ this youngster messes up, I will agree,” Cullen stated suddenly, still turned by his back towards them. “But not Akanishi,” he added immediately, as if he knew that Jin was more than ready to take that task on himself.

“Then I will do it,” Koki announced firmly and looked at Kame. “I owe you much more than just this.”

Cullen glanced back at the guy, not very pleased, but he nodded in the end: “Fine.”

“Is anyone against it?” Leo asked then again, looking around others, and also at Oswald. He waited for a long minute, and although nobody else expressed their agreement, nobody objected to his proposal either.

“It´s decided then…” Leo stated with a relief.

Kame seemed quite surprised about the change of atmosphere, while Jin still didn´t believe the result. The Riders were glancing at one another, but no argument was in the air.

“We will solve the rest tomorrow,” the young leader announced then. “With that fake delivery and so on… It was a long day, all of you need some rest and I seriously need a drink…” he sighed.

Jane slipped down from the table and she was by his side right away, taking Leo´s hand into hers.

“And some dinner as well,” she added, already dragging him out.

Gradually, all other Riders followed their leader outside, most of them with the last, now more curious than hostile, glances at Kame. On his way out, Esler approached the young newcomer once again.

“I´m watching you,” he warned Kame in a dark tone and left the room before Jin could snort something.

Only Ryo was left then and he stepped towards their new companion hesitantly as well.

“Hey, Kame… Uhm,” the guy scratched his chin sheepishly, observing Kame´s purple bruise at the same place guiltily. “I´m sorry for how we treated you back there…”

But Kame shook his head: “It was understandable. I would be surprised if you trusted me right away.”

“Well, anyway… We were not nice at all, so…”

“Apology accepted,” Kame assured the other one firmly, saving him from the anxious blabbering and offered him a hand, which relieved Ryo grabbed into a firm handshake.

“I´m Ryo. Nice to meet you, Kame. I´ll invite you for a beer later as a little compensation, what do you say?”

“I will appreciate it,” Kame nodded.

“Good,” Ryo smiled and headed to the exit, avoiding Jin on the way widely, as the older Akanishi followed him with not a very friendly glance.

Only a firm, but gentle poke into his ribs made him stop sulking in his anger, which he could not shake off.

“Jin… Don´t stare like that…” Kame approached him.

“I will not forgive them so easily,” the older guy snorted. “You are all beaten up,” he noted indignantly.

“I´ve been worse already... They didn´t know me,” the younger one reminded him. “That is enough of an excuse….”

“Not for me,” Jin insisted.

A short sigh escaped the younger´s lips, as if Kame expected nothing else. Looking into the other´s eyes, Jin had realized that they were left alone in the room, with everybody else already outside.

It still felt a little like a dream that Jin could see Kame´s face again. It was not so long since they had separated in Bozeman, but at the same time it was like ages and Kame seemed even prettier to him than he remembered. Sometimes during past weeks, Jin imagined what their reunion would have been like and it usually ended with him suffocating the younger one in his arms. Now, he was observing Kazuya with that wish filling up his mind, but somehow he could not make himself to move. A part of him was still listening carefully, if no one was going back inside and he had a feeling it would not end up with just hugging...

“How was the journey down here?” Jin asked, with his hands hidden deep in the pockets.

“A long one, difficult,” Kame answered with a sigh. “But Liwan helped me out a lot. I would not have made it so quickly without him.”

“He traveled with you?” the older one asked with a surprise.

“Only till Cheyenne, then he had to go back…”

“Because of the tribe, right?” Jin figured. “How are they? Did the movement go well?”

“Yes, we managed it soon enough,” Kazuya nodded. “There was still enough space for everyone in that reservation. They were doing fine, when we had left.”

“Glad to hear that…” Jin´s face went really serious then: “Did you really come across Grenet on the way…?”

“Unfortunately…” Kame was not happy about the topic either. “He stole Ukushi from me in Fort Collins.”

“What?!” Jin breathed out shocked.

“He noticed me before I realized he was even there. But I managed to find her and get her out, along with Koki,” Kame explained hastily, seeing the shock and worry at the other´s face.

“So you didn´t confront with him?” Jin needed to make sure.

“Not at all, for which I´m quite happy, you can imagine,” the younger one reacted.

“I do,” Jin murmured gloomily.

“Anyway, I´m glad that you found your brother in the end,” Kame stated then. “You two are more alike than I would have expected.”

“Tell me about it… What did you talk about?” Jin asked curiously. “You were closed up here for quite long.”

“He wanted to know how the two of us met and such stuff…”

“Hmm, and what did you tell him?”

“Well, the truth?” Kame raised an eyebrow over the question.

“Ah… Right, but…” the older guy shifted from one foot to another and then Kame understood why Jin was so anxious suddenly.

“Not about us, of course…” he added silently.

Jin gulped down and studied the younger´s features for a while. Kazuya seemed to be aggrieved, which pinched him with guilt. He didn´t mean it in a bad way…

“Do not take me wrong… I´m really happy to see you again, Kazuya,” he stated slowly, with his eyes sinking into the other´s.

The younger one´s stance relieved some of its tension then, when Kame smiled: “Me too, Jin.”

There was just one meter of space between them - so close and so far at the same time. Jin didn´t fight the urge to overcome it anymore, making the step forward, just when Kame did the same, so they ended up so close they could feel each other´s breath at their faces.

Kazuya´s smile turned even brighter, seeing Jin raising his hands, when the loud steps from the corridor made them to flinch back.

“Where are you two?!” Koki appeared in the door. “Aren´t you hungry? Come on, we have beer and boar roast!”

Jin wondered if he should be more upset at the unwelcome disturber, or at himself, for not being able to act faster, because Kame seemed to be disappointed and he didn´t like that.

When none of them moved, the blonde guy stomped inside the room and grabbed Kame´s shoulders, pushing him out uncompromisingly, with Jin going after them, working hard on covering his annoyance. But they were stopped right in the corridor, as the tall brunette was standing in the middle of it, with the hands crossed over her chest.

“What do you think you´re doing?” she asked Koki reproachfully.

“How does it look like?” the gangster grinned at her. “We are all thirsty, Jane, do not keep us!”

“I think that our newbie would welcome a little of water instead of beer,” the woman reacted, pointing at Kame´s face. “Did you even notice what did you do to him?”

“Me!?” Koki exclaimed indignantly, while Jin was just sulking behind; he knew very well what Jane meant. “I didn´t do anything to Kame!” the blonde one looked at the younger´s face again. “Well… The others did…”

Kame´s chin and neck were stained with blood as well as his shirt, there was also an awful scratch over one of his temples and his coat was torn apart. He didn´t complain; Jin would be surprised if he did, but he was definitely in pain from the beating he had received.

Jane sighed heavily: “You two, get out,” she waved the two older guys away and took Kame´s hand. “And you, come with me.”

Not waiting for any disagreement, the brunette pulled Kame behind, leading him to the back part of the house, while Jin and Koki remained speechless in the corridor.

*

 

The water was not very warm, but it was more than enough for Kame to be satisfied. He was incredibly relieved to get rid of the dried blood and dirt. Brushing his face dry with the soft cloth he felt much better, despite that touching some places on his body ached.

“Here, you can take this,” the pretty woman came back to the small room, which seemed to be used as bathroom and storehouse for tools at the same time, handing Kame a black shirt. “It should fit you.”

“Thank you,” Kame nodded gratefully, glancing at his own, quite damaged, shirt.

“I know the trick how to get the blood out of it,” Jane murmured, taking it into her hand swiftly. “I can fix it for you later.”

Kame felt a little embarrassed by the caring attitude of the woman he didn´t know: “That´s not necessary, I can…”

“Take it as compensation,” Jane cut his objections and smiled. “Those guys are not bad, but they act first, and regret later.”

Kame rather didn´t argue and put the shirt on, pondering about the reason for Jane to treat him so nicely, especially when she already observed the scratches on his face closely.

“Oh, God, this is Cullen´s work, right?” she noted and started to search for disinfection on one of the shelves. “I will clean it up, sit down,” she pointed at the old chair, on which the container with water was put, so Kame placed it down on the ground first. The woman´s attitude didn´t allow much space for negotiation and it was not unpleasant, when she took care of the injuries, just unexpected.

“I´m surprised they let you be with me alone,” Kame stated some of his thoughts aloud, breaking the short silence.

Jane chuckled a little: “Well… Firstly, I can take care of myself. Secondly, Cullen is right behind the door, sharpening his ears. And thirdly, I do not think you would do me any harm.”

Kame observed the woman quite surprised, and flinched a little when she pressed over one scratch too hard.

“Or should I be scared of you?” she mocked him a little. “You don´t look very dangerous…”

“Appearances can be deceptive,” Kame objected.

“You don´t have to tell me about it,” Jane reacted, somehow sad suddenly. “But I don´t think that’s your case.”

“Not to mention that the gang would have cut me into pieces, if I dared to do anything, right?” Kame added, already quite relaxed in the woman´s presence.

“Exactly,” she confirmed with a wide, but almost a bit scary smile. “Good. It looks much better now… I guess you´d welcome that beer now, wouldn´t you?”


	11. Whispers in the dark

**T** he atmosphere around the cheerfully burning fire was quite gloomy. The Black Riders´ members were drinking their beers, which had its source in the cellar under the veranda of Oswald´s house, and shared a big bottle of whiskey.

No one was very talkative, either because they were in no mood, or because they did not want to disturb their young leader. Leo was the most silent of all, staring into the flames, his face very serious. They knew him long enough to realize that he was trying to figure out a way how to deal with their situation now. And Jin knew even better; he expected the younger one to get up from the log and retreat to privacy sooner or later, as he needed to decide about what to do undisturbed.

Leo confirmed his brother´s assumption at the moment, when Jane and Kame finally appeared, with Esler breathing on the guy´s back. All eyes focused on the young newcomer, whose face was clean now, but his expression more than careful.

“Hey, that´s my shirt!” Jack complained once Kame, who was completely dressed in black, stepped into the light.

Surprisingly, Jane leant over Kame´s shoulder nonchalantly, smiling at the guy: “It was the closest to his size,” she informed Jack, before Kame could start apologizing, which he was definitely about to do. “His own clothes are pretty torn and bloody, and I doubt you would like our guest to sit here in them, right?”

Jack pouted unsatisfied, but realized very quickly, what was the reason for the need for Kame to change his clothes in the first place.

“Uhm, yeah… Right. That´s fine then,” he murmured a little guiltily.

“See? I told you they are good guys,” Jane stated amused and patted a little anxious Kame over his shoulder. “Have fun,” she parted with him then, following Leo, who had already left his spot at the fire without any word, back into the house.

Jin gestured at the free space next to him on the log and Kazuya seated himself there gratefully. He wanted to offer the younger one his beer, but there was already Koki handing him over the full tankard.

“I saved this for you,” the blonde guy informed Kame proudly. “Those selfish misers would not leave you a drop.”

“Hey! You´re the one talking, Koki! You drink the most of us all!” Ryo scolded him.

“Overreacting, my friend,” Koki snorted. “I was just thirsty. Cheers, Kame.”

“Thanks, Koki…” Kame clung with his glass to the other one´s with a grateful nod.

“You´re welcome, handsome. I could not let you die from thirst, right?”

“Playing a merciful sister again…” Ryo suppressed an amused laughter unsuccessfully.

“Be careful not to choke with your drink, Ryo,” Koki turned to him with an ironic smile.

“You behave as if you fell in love with him,” the other one paid him a smirk back.

Koki didn´t let himself to be offended and used it against his companion instead: “Would you be so surprised? He definitely looks more handsome than all of you,” he reacted haughtily.

Kame was the one almost choking on his beer, while Jin´s tankard somewhat lost its good taste. The laughter of everyone else gave both of them some time to cover their reactions, while Ryo just rolled his eyes, considering Koki´s answer pretty childish.

“Well… Kame, since you´re going to stick with us for a while now, I guess it would be nice for you to know who you are dealing with,” Ryo was also the one to speak then, ignoring Koki´s victorious grin. “This is Jack. Todd. Patrick. And Carl.”

Each one of mentioned guys nodded his head in greeting.

“You already know Koki…” Ryo waved towards the annoying blonde one.

“Lucky me!” the said guy noted cheerfully. “And that gentleman who is watching you like a hungry wolf in retirement is Cullen,” he finished the introduction teasingly.

The mentioned ´wolf´ stabbed Koki with his eyes instead.

“One day I will cut your tongue out for that cheeky mouth,” Esler snorted, he left a new portion of thick wood branches close the fire and then retreated somewhere into darkness, leaving the younger part of the gang there. But both Jin and Kame were sure the man would not be far.

Kame was still nervous about how the others would react to him, but at the moment, considering the cheerful teasing, it seemed they accepted the agreement and skipped any hostility. The drink had also calmed him down - the beer was very bitter, but cool and delicious once he gulped twice. He looked at Jin, but the older one still seemed somewhat gloomy.

“So… Where are you from?”

Staring at Jin´s profile, illuminated by flames, Kame almost failed to notice that the question was addressed to him.

“From Montana, Bozeman,” he said, replying to Jack´s question.

“Bozeman?” Ryo repeated. “Do you have anything in common with Karnaka then?”

“Yes, I do…” Kame replied slowly, a bitter feeling turning very awful at that moment. “I lost my family and friends because of him.”

“What a lovely fellow…” Koki noted. “Akanishi had told us about him before, it was nothing nice.”

“Did you do it together then?” Ryo asked suddenly.

The heads of Jin and Kame jerked towards the guy, both forgetting to breathe for a while.

“The revenge, I mean,” the gangster completed the question, with his eyebrows raised. “Jin, you told us something about it before, didn’t you…”

“Yes, we set his farm on fire,” Jin was the one finally giving an answer.

“Hey, that sounds interesting!” Koki reacted excited. “Tell us more about it!”

“There´s not much to speak of…”

“Oh, sure, Akanishi,” the blonde guy reacted sarcastically. “You had successfully attacked the most powerful man in the area and there´s _not much_ to talk about.”

“Or are you worried we would give you in to the Marshals?” Jack asked mockingly.

“How did you two even meet?” Ryo wondered, glancing from one to another curiously.

Kame smiled a little; the memories of that one evening a few months ago rising up in his mind.

“The first time I met Jin he ordered tequila at the bar I was working in,” he announced, glancing at Jin again.

“Why am I not surprised there was alcohol in it?” Koki reacted, pretending astonishment.

“I was _thirsty_ ,” Jin returned his teasing grin back even more widely.

The other Riders laughed very openly now, seeing Koki staring at the older Akanishi, who seemed to be more a capable rival in teasing…

*

 

“Not in a sociable mood today?”

Smoking Esler took a short look at the brunette, who just joined him at the veranda. She left Leo inside the house alone quite soon… Jane stood there looking in the direction of the fireplace, which resonated with the burst outs of laughing and some surprised yells, among which Esler caught the words as ´crazy´ and ´grizzly´.

“Do I have a reason to be in one?” he snorted, but without a sign of annoyance, just with a heavy sigh.

“Being pessimistic will not help either us, or Leo,” Jane reminded the man.

“I´m just realistic,” Cullen objected, a little offended.

“If you want to call it that… What do you _really_ think about Kamenashi, Cullen?” she asked curiously.

Esler kept smoking without a word for a while, thinking over his response.

“He´s not lying,” the gunman admitted in the end. “But he´s hiding something, just as the dearest brother of our Leo is doing.”

“Most of us have something to hide,” the brunette sighed quietly.

“That might be true… And I would not care if it had nothing to do with us. But that´s not the case,” Esler growled and doused a cigarette butt over the railing, despite that it was not finished yet.

“You think they are planning something we won´t like?” Jane reacted thoughtfully.

The older man looked at her, studying the faint features of the brunette´s face in the dark.

“And you think so too,” he replied then. “You would not bother to be so friendly with that newbie otherwise. You feel there´s something off as well.”

“Well… Yes,” Jane admitted not very willingly. “I believe what Kamenashi told us, and I don´t think the two of them are bad guys, but…”

“Exactly because they _are not_ bad guys, it´s highly suspicious they would have joined us so easily,” Cullen continued, when her voice faded out. “We´re criminals, Jane.”

The woman nodded in agreement: “But I´m not sure what to make of it.”

“I think I do,” the gunman answered slowly. “And also… I can understand it as I want to protect Leo as well.”

Jane looked at the man with her eyes wide with sudden realization: “You think they want to persuade him to stop?” she whispered.

“Don´t know about that pretty Kamenashi, but I´m sure that´s what Akanishi is after,” Cullen stated confidently. “He wants to keep his brother away from the gallows, so he doesn´t want him to be a part of the Riders anymore. And even I have to admit that´s the best way of achieving that goal…”

Jane was silent for a while, thinking over the situation from a little different perspective.

“You can´t know that for sure,” she said then, keeping her voice low.

“No, but being in Akanishi´s shoes, I would have intended to do the same,” Cullen explained his assumption simply.

“Leo will not leave us,” Jane objected firmly. “Never. Don´t you trust him?”

“I do, Jane, you know that,” the man shook with his head slightly. “I do not trust his stubborn brother…”

*

 

Jin did not expect that the Riders would be so interested in his beautiful friend, and in their story. They had a lot of questions, and in the end they got almost all the answers from both of them.

Even Jin himself did not realize through how much they went together with Kazuya, until it was said aloud. It was visible on the faces around them as well, that the guys were quite amazed - with their grizzly hunt, adventures with the Indians, issues with Grenet and finally, with the ambush on the farm. They were looking at them with more understanding after that. Despite neither he nor Kame were bothering them with too many details…

Jin was really glad that the previous distrust was obviously forgotten. He didn´t care about Esler, who was certainly observing them from somewhere. That man would have been suspicious about his own mother, but the others seemed to take the situation more than well. Also Kame was more relaxed; sitting right next to him, Jin could feel that the anxiety of his went away.

Then the narration was passed over to Ryo, who picked up some crazy stories of the Riders´ adventures. Koki had just started arguing with him, whose fault that was, when they got lost in the woods once, when Jane appeared again.

“Guys, just a warning - I need somebody to ride to Leadville tomorrow for shopping, or you´ll starve,” she announced. “ _Very early_ in the morning.”

“Now you´re telling us when to sleep? We´re not kids!” Koki reacted as the most outraged.

“Really? You behave like one, though…” the brunette reacted calmly. ”Well, since you just volunteered, Koki, I´m going to wake you up at four.”

“EEH?! That´s not fair!!”

“Kame, I´ve brought some blankets for you,” Jane placed the sleeping stuff on the log next to the guy, completely ignoring Koki´s complaints. “I can show you where…”

“I will do it,” Jin cut in hastily. “Don´t bother with it, Jane. I will show him the barn.”

The brunette shrugged: “All right. Good night, guys!” she was done with them right away and disappeared again, ruffling upset Koki´s hair on the way.

Jin stood up as well, sooner than anyone could ask or say anything else.

“Would you like to go right away?” he asked Kame. It was not even a question, as he had already taken the blanket from the log, but Kame didn´t seem to be bothered with that.

“Oh, come on! Are you scared of our beautiful so-called mother?” Koki complained. “It´s too soon!”

“Four o´clock is definitely too soon for me to get up,” Jin informed him grinning.

“Cowards…” Koki hissed, when Kame left his spot as well.

“Come on, Koki, it was a long day,” Ryo yawned widely. “We should go to sleep as well.”

“No way! We need to finish that barrel!”

“There is almost nothing left anyway…”

“And who´s fault that is?!”

The sounds of argument were fading behind Kame, as he rushed to follow Jin, who was the first one to leave. He joined his side soon, cringing a little in the coat. Once they left the warmness of the fire, the chilly evening air reached out to him hungrily. They walked away from the veranda of the cottage, where the dark silhouette of a man smoking was standing motionless, but Kame still could feel those eyes on himself.

“He is creepy as a scarecrow,” Jin murmured, only whispering, to make sure Esler would not catch his words.

“He has a full right to be suspicious, don´t you think?” Kame reacted, also quietening his voice.

“That doesn´t mean he must slaughter us with his stare at every opportunity.”

“I can handle stares; I´m more worried about his revolvers,” the younger one reacted, amused with how much upset Jin sounded about something so expected.

“Good point,” the older one admitted unwillingly.

The dark shape of a big barn appeared in front of their eyes, which slowly got used to the darkness.

“Oswald used to raise sheep here, but there is none anymore,” the older one informed Kame. “The attic is still full of hay and it´s well covered from the draft, so almost all of us sleep there. Just Oswald, Leo and Jane use the bedrooms in the house. There is place for two more, but it would mean to bother my brother with his love, so… You can guess why we are here.”

“More than clearly,” Kame reacted, somehow in a cheerful mood just from listening to Jin.

“And if I was a few years younger and my bones would not ache so much, I would sleep outside as well,” the deep voice welcomed them in front of the barn, making both guys to freeze on the spot surprised.

“Oswald! Can´t you make some noise, man?” Jin found his breath again, reacting grumpily on the man´s presence.

“Why? You´re creating more than enough of it,” the usually not-very-talkative man replied. “I´ve already lit the lantern upstairs, be careful.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jin nodded and continued walking to the side of the building, where the thin pieces of light could be seen, while the old man approached Kame.

“And you, the rules – no smoking, no peeing, no shooting inside. Got it?”

“Absolutely, sir,” Kame assured him, a little out of balance from the man´s strict attitude.

Oswald nodded and headed back to the house, while Kame finally followed the Jin´s track to a bright square in the barn´s wall. He stepped over the high threshold, finding a big free space filled with the nice smell of dry grass, and with deep shadows, as the only source of light was hidden somewhere up in the attic. Blinking a few times, he noticed a ladder leading up in the middle of the barn.

Kame pulled the heavy door to close them because of the cold and he could barely turn, when there were already two strong hands grabbing his arms and the hungry lips sealing his in a heated kiss.

Surprised Kame collected himself quickly, as he was eager for nothing else since the first moment he saw the face of his lover in the woods. Pulling the demanding man closer with one hand by his coat, he sneaked up into the other´s hair, grabbing them excitedly, and returned the kiss, sending his tongue on exploration at the same moment, when his colleague set off to the same purpose.

The body of the older one, stronger than he remembered, pushed Kame back, and pressed him against the wall, while doing the same move with his tongue. Not prepared for such an urgent attack, Kame felt like melting in those arms. He started to tremble a little; reacting to the probing of the demanding tongue, which was conquering his mouth.

Then the hands squeezed Kame around his waist hard; he could feel each finger burying into his skin under the thin cloth. He ran with his other hand up as well, throwing both arms around the other´s neck, closing their distance at the most possible minimum. And when he sucked on the retreating tongue gently, a heavy sigh escaped those hot lips, when they separated.

The fire in the dark eyes, which focused on him then, was worth of every single hit Kame had received back in the woods from the Riders, or every trouble on the way down to the south…

Jin didn´t even realize that he was holding something back, until he let it go free.

The beer and whiskey, which he had drunk at the fire, made it somehow harder to sit next to the younger one and not being able to touch him then, but now, the alcohol made Jin forget any over-thinking and just act according to what he wanted to do at the second his eyes met with Kazuya´s hours ago.

The blanket and cushion were forgotten on the wooden floor once Kame stepped inside the barn after him. Taking the younger one into his arms was the best damn thing in the whole day; even in all those damn long two months. Kazuya was still so slim and so hot and his lips so captivating… Never stop kissing him; that was the idea which filled up Jin´s mind and he expressed it more than clearly. With his heart beating heavily, he pulled himself off the younger one, only when he lost his breath.

That goldish lake, into which he would love to jump in and sink, was so close, when Kazuya repaid his glance, that Jin almost could not believe it.

 _How could I bear not kissing him for so long?_ he wondered amazed.

“Thanks for the proper welcome,” Kazuya smiled happily, his cheeks a little darker than usually.

A provocative grin found its way onto Jin´s face: “You could not wait for it, could you?” he asked hoarsely.

“It took you too long,” the younger one complained, his fingers leaving the spot in Jin´s hair, running down along his neck, and soothing the skin on the way.

“Ah, so you expected me to jump on you in front of the whole gang?” Jin asked teasingly, his hands slipping a little lower from Kame´s waist, placing them at his hips instead.

They both knew he would have never done that, and it had a somehow bitter feeling, but Kame ignored it and leant a little closer.

“I would not be so surprised if you did…”

“What are you trying to imply, Kame?” Jin frowned, pretending to be outraged. “That I´m so horny?”

The younger´s smile faded slowly, and the colour of his skin went even darker. Jin stiffened a little, realizing fully what he had said. Kazuya took a slow breath, blushing heavily.

“Are you not?” he asked then, in a quiet voice, which brought shivers into Jin´s stomach and even lower.

The older one tried to clear his throat unsuccessfully, now perceiving the closeness of the moving chest and of that slim waist and the younger´s hot breath even more.

“No arguments?” Kame was so sweetly provocative at the moment, tapping his fingers over the accessible skin of Jin´s chest that the older one could not help but join in teasing. But he could not say it aloud, or into his eyes. Therefore, he moved with his head closer, avoiding the younger´s lips and got so close to Kame´s ear he almost touched it.

“Your moans will be my arguments,” he whispered.

Before the younger one could beat his statement, Jin bit into his earlobe softly, as it just felt as a good idea to realize. That gained him the other´s shivering and Kame´s nails burying into the skin on his neck. Jin continued with kissing the younger one right under his jaw, hearing him letting go of a heated breath. Immersed in their little game, Jin gave another long and sucking kiss to Kazuya´s neck, caressing the soft skin with his tongue. And when his hands moved again, to the back part of the handsome guy´s body, and stopped at Kame´s butt, pressing there longingly, Jin could literally _feel_ the moan in the other´s throat, though it never left his lips.

He straightened up to see that Kazuya covered his mouth with one hand to prevent the excited sound to come out.

“Hey…” Jin hardened his touch on the round bottom, making Kame´s body press itself against him eagerly. “You cheat, Kazuya.”

He let one of his hands leave the lovely spot and pulled the younger´s palm off, to find Kame grinning at him victoriously, but still his eyes were burning with longing and that let Jin know that his action was not without a reaction.

They kissed again, and their lips did not play any games. Both guys were eager after each other and after a long separation the passion inside of them woke up quickly.

Jin was amazed at the realization, that he would be totally able to throw Kame into the hay right away and claim again, what was his once, long weeks ago.

Kame felt some of it probably, as he tore himself off his demanding lips, trying to make some distance between them unsuccessfully.

“Not a good idea, Jin,” Kame said on a raspy voice.

“Funny… I know what you mean, but…” Jin reacted, fighting against his fingers intending to approach the belts, which were in their way. “At the same time I think it´s the best idea _ever_.”

 

Kame loved the feeling, which he missed so much. He loved every single touch, everything Jin did with him, but then he noticed that the older one was really close to losing control; his eyes were too dark. And that was not so good, considering the others… Naturally, it made the younger to wish for nothing else than seeing how those eyes would turn out even greedier, but… They could not afford to… do that at the moment, no matter how damn tempting the idea was.

The voices he managed to catch outside were more than obvious proof of that. Even if it cost him hell a lot of self-restraint, he avoided Jin´s attempt to kiss him again.

“The others are coming,” he informed him hastily, and Jin noticed the approaching witnesses as well.

“Damn…”

Hastily, for one last time, Jin took Kame´s chin into his hand and captured his lips in such a passionate kiss, that the younger one thought he would not be able to keep standing, when Jin let him go.

With his head swinging a little, Kame pulled himself off the possessive arms and headed to the ladder first, desperately trying to regain his composure. He stepped just at the third partition, when a hard sting right into his buttocks made him to stop and turn his head.

“Pervert,” he hissed at the grinning Jin under him right before the door of the barn opened and Kame continued climbing, away from those still dangerously dark eyes, which were promising him much more than just teasing next time…

 

The Riders entered the barn arguing about who had drunk more beer and was guilty for the empty barrel, and who was even able to keep the first watch.

Jin, turning his face away from them, picked up the blanket from the floor, approached the ladder again and threw it up to Kame´s awaiting hands. The younger one was still stabbing him with his burning eyes, adorably upset about that completely innocent pinch, but Jin didn´t mind it at all. Their _welcome_ was worth of anything for him at the moment…


	12. Leo´s decision

**T** he dim morning light was coming through the curtain, revealing the lines of a wardrobe, a table with the empty tin washbasin and a wide double bed, on which the two naked bodies were resting.

Leo stared at the sloped wooden ceiling, listening to the lonely singing of some courageous bird from the outside, while Jane was sleeping right next to him, lying on her stomach with one hand resting on his chest, her long hair ruffled and spread all over the pillow.

Silent minutes were passing one after another, but the bedroom was not getting any brighter. It was caused by the cloudy sky, which refused to let through even a single beam of sunshine from behind them, and watered the woods around the mountain chalet with rain instead. Leo could hear the drops tapping on the roof above. It seemed that the winter gave up its fight against the next season really soon this year.

Leo liked the calm and lazy mornings like this one. Unfortunately, he had a feeling he would not be able to enjoy many of them from now on. He glanced at the peaceful face next to him. He didn´t tell Jane yet, but he was already decided. He discussed it just with Oswald so far, as it concerned the old man the most, and now he intended to wait for Koki to come back from the city to talk with the gang.

Even through the closed door, some steps and the clinging of dishes could be heard downstairs, which indicated that the owner of the house was already long awake; Oswald was always the first one to get up.

The Riders´ leader slipped from under the warm hug carefully, as not to wake his lover up, because Jane really did get up at four o´clock and with a scary glee she went to wake Koki up, so Leo wanted to let her catch up on sleep. He covered her naked body with a blanket and opened a window a little. Jane liked to sleep in a cool room.

Standing at the window, Leo noticed that somebody else was also up already - Kamenashi was walking towards the fence with their horses, with scrubbing brushes in his hand, a hat covering him from the rain.

Leo watched him, as the young man stepped inside the fence. Before Kame could secure the entrance again, there was already a white mare sniffling around his coat pockets. The guy laughed and then took out two shriveled apples, offering them to the animal. The mare crunched on the morning snack satisfied, while her master soothed her across the long neck gently.

Cullen was not the only one wondering about the real motives of Jin´s acquaintance, but the truth to be told, Leo was willing to do anything for his own friends as well, so it wasn´t like he didn´t understand. He was more than sure that Kazuya Kamenashi was a good guy. Maybe exactly that was the reason for the gang´s distrust, as they had met so many selfish evil bastards so far, that it was hard to believe somebody like him even existed. But if everything Kame and Jin had said was true, then his brother was damn lucky to have somebody like that brown-haired handsome guy on his side.

Thoughtful Leo turned away from the window, grabbed his shirt and left the bedroom to take some of the coffee, which Oswald definitely cooked, for himself, before the others came and there would be nothing left.

*

 

When Jin woke up, he found Ryo, Jack, Carl and Patrick snorting happily in their sleeping bags, but Kame´s place was empty and his blanket properly folded up. Koki was not there either, but the guy was probably really close to Leadville at the moment, as Jane kept her word and she really dragged him out of his sleep just when Jin finished his part of the night´s watch, which he took over in place of pleading Ryo, who felt kind of sick. Todd was the last one to make the rounds around the property, so he was out as well. And as for the last Rider, always suspicious Esler, Jin could not care less where the man spent this night.

Jin sat up, trying to shake his sleepiness off. It took him hell a lot of time before he finally managed to fall asleep the previous evening. He was really happy about the fact that Kazuya was there with him, and adding their hot session to the feelings, he was so excited, that naturally he did not feel sleepy at all. That turned on him in the morning, obviously.

The young gunman yawned widely and made himself move. He avoided the row of legs carefully and climbed down the ladder, remembering the alluring sight of a certain bum in the dark trousers, heading in the opposite direction, and it made him chuckle.

Who would have said that Kame would be so sensitive?

On the other hand, just a few months ago, Jin would not even think about doing such a harassing thing to another male… But how could he miss an opportunity like that one?

Ignoring the ugly weather, the young gunman headed to the house in a good mood, finding his brother in the kitchen sipping on some coffee and Todd basically lying on the table.

“Great!” he noted the liquid satisfied. “Good morning, guys, is there some left?”

“Nope,” Leo announced stiffly, covering the kettle behind him. “The rest is for Jane.”

“That´s not nice of you, Brother…” Jin reacted disappointed.

“Be a gentleman,” there was a mocking response from his younger sibling. “Wait for Koki´s return; he will bring some for sure.”

“Fine,” the older Akanishi grunted. “Did you see Kame?”

“He´s with the horses,” Leo informed him, enjoying the last gulp of the dark liquid.

“Thanks.”

Jin was out before Todd even managed to lift his head up from the table.

“He forgot about that coffee quite quickly…” Leo murmured for himself.

“What?” Todd asked confused.

“Nothing. Just go get some sleep; I will do some checking myself now.”

The grateful gangster nodded: “Thanks, Chief.”

*

 

“Morning~!”

The brim of a black hat moved up to reveal the pair of brown eyes, which focused on the young gunman leaning over the fence comfortably.

“Good morning,” Kame replied to the other´s greeting, while Oswald just tapped over his wide hat.

Jin found both of them grooming the horses one by one and also checking their hooves. The animals definitely needed some proper treatment already; under the exciting circumstances they were kind of forgotten the evening before. Kuro was already standing there in his full black beauty and glory, but ignored his master reproachfully and rather joined Ukushi for the breakfast consisting of some oat.

“I can see that it´s hard to get rid of the old habits,” Jin stated, giving up on trying to get the attention of his headstrong stallion, and rather watched the skillful movements of Kame´s hands.

“At least he´s doing something useful, instead of sleeping,” Oswald was the one reacting to that and approached the so-far-very-satisfied Akanishi. “Here you go, you can help him,” the man pushed the second scrub brush into the youngster´s hand and left the fence, ignoring the other´s annoyed look.

Jin watched the man´s departure quite offended, as he got up very early, at least for that day, but he entered fence in his place anyway.

“That´s what I get for being an early bird for once,” he complained, as he started to work on one of the last three remaining horses, which belonged to Jack, if he remembered correctly.

“I can finish it myself,” a voice was heard somewhere from behind the sturdy stallion.

“It´s all right, I´ll help you,” Jin pouted. “I didn´t mean it like that.”

“I know,” there was an amused reaction, and the younger one sent the stallion off to the others, moving onto the next one, behind Jin´s back. “This really reminds me something,” Kame noted then.

“Yeah, me too,” Jin grinned to himself, remembering the stalls behind Harada´s Saloon in Bozeman, where they ended up doing the same job together once, a long time ago. “Will you ask me how I slept this time as well?” he wondered, after he was finished with Jack´s horse.

“Should I?” Kame reacted walking around the older mare, to check the hooves on the other side.

“Rather not or I start complaining again,” the older one murmured.

“About what?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Jin replied and smacked the horse on his back a little to make it move away and looked for another one. Finding the last one, a big proud stallion, which was Esler´s, he approached him with respect, soothing the animal across the neck first, before he started the grooming.

“You seemed to be in quite a good mood, when we went to sleep,” the younger one reminded Jin mockingly.

“I was,” Jin admitted, focusing on the precise movements, while holding the horse´s bridle with his other hand. That one was not so happy about the treatment, shifting stubbornly, so Kame approached the horse from the other side to help Jin to keep the animal calm. “But that doesn´t mean my mood couldn´t have been even better,” he added in a more quiet voice.

He didn´t hear a response then, but he noticed that Kame lowered his head to hide a smile.

“You didn´t seem so amused climbing up the ladder…” he stated innocently.

Kazuya raised his head and his eyes stabbed Jin from behind the horse´s back: “I´ve told you already – a pervert.”

“I´ve never claimed to be a decent guy,” Jin grinned and finished the last brush.

Both guys let the last horse go, the stallion stepped away with his head high, while they remained standing there watching each other in a wordless match.

“How did _you_ sleep?” Jin asked when Kame kept suspiciously silent.

“Great,” the younger one replied. “No cold, no hard ground, no dreams, no sneaking hands… I´m so refreshed…” he noted, convincingly honest and headed to the opposite side of the fence.

Jin rushed behind him: “I didn´t know you mind sneaking hands…” he noted curiously.

“It depends on how much sneaky they are…” the immediate response made Jin to think if he was not supposed to be sorry or something… He blocked Kame´s path, before the younger one could open the fence´s entrance, studying his expression.

“Are you angry at me, Kame?” Jin asked silently.

“What? No,” to his surprise, Kazuya almost laughed out aloud. “I was just mocking you, Jin… Don´t tell me you somehow feel guilty now.”

“Of course not!” the older one pouted. “I was just not sure… if you mind that or…”

“Did I look like I minded something yesterday?” Kame asked, with his eyes shining in the way, which made the older one forget anything else happening around him.

Jin grinned, relieved already that his suspicion was just his own stupid idea caused by once again wondering too much: “Not so much…”

“See? Don´t jump to foolish conclusions then,” Kame smiled, reaching out to the pulley at the fence.

Jin didn´t move away from his way; he grabbed the younger´s coat instead.

*

Kame pushed his hat back a little, to have a better view at Jin´s face and he stepped a little further away. The older one kept watching him with longing in his eyes, which squeezed Kame´s guts with desire to grab his face and give him a proper morning kiss. Which Jin obviously intended as well, shortening that space between them again.

“Try to be reasonable, Jin,” Kame stated firmly, fighting against the desire to press himself against that strong body.

The older guy´s eyes wandered around their silent surroundings.

“I´m not doing anything unreasonable. Yet,” there was a quiet reply then, the dark orbs focusing on him again.

Kame gulped down heavily, feeling hot all of the sudden, despite the annoying rain.

“We must be careful now. There is the whole gang around...”

“I know…” the older one sighed. “But I do not feel like being careful with you nearby.”

Kame was flooded with warmness and shivering expectation. It was not easy for him either, to keep being aware about their surroundings all the time now. He missed the older guy´s arms and kisses and the previous evening just reminded it him fully of that fact. It was hard to keep his distance and Jin didn´t make it any easier.

“Then it would be for the best if I left…” he reacted and pushed himself off Jin hastily.

“What?!” the shocked exhale made Kame turn, keeping the entrance open.

“Away from this fence, I mean…” he added softly.

Before Jin could react to that, a sudden call was heard.

“Ah, there you are!! If you want to eat something at all, come then, before Ryo consumes everything himself!” it was Jack waving at them from veranda.

***

 

Koki returned shortly before the nightfall and he was not alone. He brought the other guys along as well, those four whom Leo sent to Leadville before. The young leader wanted everybody to be present; they all deserved to know, even though it meant dealing with all of them at once.

He watched from his armchair as Ryo introduced Kame to the remaining four, who had the pleasure to meet the guy for the first time. There were the two half-breed cousins Ian and Sherman, usually very silent Nick and Benny – a muscular man, who outdid everyone in the gang in the height and weight. The others did not even try to cover their amused smiles when Benny grasped Kame´s slim hand for a handshake, during which the guy almost started to move up and down along with it.

Leo waited patiently for everyone to find their spot to sit or stand and started paying him attention. He realized that Jin and also Cullen observed him quite suspiciously, but the others were in a good no-idea mood yet.

He looked around ´his boys´ - he knew each of them for quite a long time already and he came to like all of them in a certain way. It was as he had said to his brother before – Cullen, Ryo, Koki, Jack, Patrick, Todd, Carl, Benny, Ian, Sherman and Nick were his new family and great friends. Naturally, Jane had a very specific place in his heart and Oswald… He was not a very open or talkative man, but they owed him a lot and he deserved better in his life. And lastly there was also Kame, sitting at the bench between Koki and Ryo, while Jin was standing behind them with quite a mysterious expression at his face. He didn´t know the guy for long, but he had a strong feeling that he could become his good friend as well.

He was glad to have them all, but the longer that whole issue with Tabor took, the bigger danger was upon all of them. Leo knew they were all ready to fight for him, and just for that he would never leave them for the whole world, but still…. He considered taking a little pause and giving everyone a break from all that mess, as a more than good idea.

He got ready to talk, leaning forward in his seat, joining his fingers together. There was one more glance, which became very suspicious at that moment and that belonged to Jane. The brunette made herself comfortable at her favorite place, from where she had the best view all around the room – she was sitting on the edge of the table and probably wondered what he was up to now…

“As some of you already know, Koki did not bring any good news,” Leo launched their meeting. “The real delivery was already done and the money, which we wanted to take for Oswald´s sister, is already in bank´s safe. Did Koki tell you guys what happened?” the leader looked at the four guys who arrived with the blonde one and they just nodded. “Good. So… I have this idea. It seems we have enough cash in our savings to cover the operation.”

The Riders stiffened hearing that statement. They spent more than a year to gather their common savings and Leo knew that some guys even dreamt of moving to another state and start a new life with it. Once it would be enough for everybody, of course, even though they would not say it aloud, and he knew they would not like what he was about to propose. But he believed in the good in their hearts. Oswald was not happy about it either, and Leo assumed that he would have protested more if his sister was getting better, but it was more of the opposite…

“We promised Oswald to help his sister for what he had done for us and we do not have much time now. I want to cover it with this then,” he made his intentions clear for everybody.

The room fell very quiet then. The guys were not surprised, just gloomy and frowning, the only non-understanding glance he caught belonged to Kame. Yeah, he would have been shocked by the gangster helping the old sick ladies as well….

“Well… How much will be left after it then?” Todd, who was always their biggest dreamer, asked.

“None,” Carl, who was in charge of their small accounting, informed him pessimistically.

“Ah, so…”

“You said there´s not much time… Any news about your sister then?” a very calm Cullen turned to Oswald and the man nodded heavily.

“It´s not good…”

The gunman shrugged: “Then let´s do it; it´s not like we wanted to build some palace with all that money or whatever.”

Some sad grins followed his statement, just Koki stood up smiling honestly: “And we can always gather even more again, can´t we?” he announced making a haughty trick with his revolver.

The blonde one even managed to pull some laughter about it, and Leo knew that this part was his win.

“If anyone is against it, just say it right away, guys, I will not be mad. I know we risked a lot for that money…”

One after another they shook with their heads and he caught something like a proud smile at his brother´s face and also Jane´s glance made him somehow sheepish.

“Fine… Then here´s the thing - we have to deliver it to Ohio, where Oswald´s sister lives, as soon as possible and arrange the trip to Europe. Oswald had already decided, he wants to go with her,” Leo announced glancing at the man.

“Yes, I will,” he confirmed. “I will leave everything as it is here…”

“You mean that?” Ryo grasped for a breath in surprise.

The man nodded: “Yeah… I will pass the house over to you, guys. As a little repayment…”

The atmosphere got much more optimistic then, they were sad that the man would leave, but they loved their safe place, they all felt as if it was their home now.

“So Oswald will go,” Leo continued seriously. “And I´ll go with him.”

Yeah, that was the bomb he was afraid to launch. Everybody stared at him and he let his words to sink in and then he hastily continued before anyone would start objecting.

“It´s not that I want to go on some railroad trip… Look, I feel that the ground is starting to be too hot for me here and that bastard Harvey getting so close was just a proof of it. I´m the only one known, so if I simply disappear for a while, let the things calm down, it will be profitable for everyone. You can rest meanwhile, don´t do anything suspicious, keep a low profile, and then, when Tabor will think his silver is safe, we can strike again.”

“That was an awesome argumentation, Leo,” Cullen spoke first. “But since you said it yourself – you´re the only one known, shouldn´t you stay in cover then?”

Leo smiled a little: “I will be covered, don´t worry. You know me, I can disguise myself.”

“That means I can bleach you blond again?!” Koki asked excited.

“What did you say?” Jin reacted on that shocked.

“Don´t you see his crazy head?” Ryo turned to the surprised Akanishi. “He knows some tricks or what for that.”

“I suppose you meant my stylish cool hair, buddy…” Koki hissed warningly, but Ryo just grinned at him.

“We will see about that,” Leo murmured, as he well remembered that Jane hated his unnatural hair the last time. “And if anyone recognizes me, it will be only for the best too… If the rumors spread that I´m somewhere else than here…”

Cullen could not find an argument to that, so he found something else: “But you will not go alone. I…”

“I won´t,” Leo interrupted him. “I will take Ryo and Koki with me. But I need you to stay here, Cullen.”

“You cannot mean that…” the older man growled.

“I can. In case anything would go wrong, you´ll be the leader,” Leo stated firmly in front of everyone. “I need you here, understand?”

The anxious silence was once again broken by Cullen, who obviously let it go through his head.

“The four of you is still too little,” he said in a strangely quiet voice.

“Don´t worry, Esler. We will go as well, of course,” the other Akanishi´s voice reacted to that.

Cullen turned to the guy with a dangerous shine in his eyes: “I had no doubt you would interfere in this, but what do you mean by ´we´?”

“Isn´t it obvious?” Ryo replied to him instead. “Him and Kame. They are like twins, anyway,” he added amused.

The said guy gave the black-haired gangster a mysterious glance, not commenting on his statement, and neither did Jin.

“Do you really think I would let _you both_ travel with Leo?” Cullen asked gritting his teeth.

“Why not?” Jin snapped back.

“Isn´t that up to me to decide, by any chance?” Leo asked in a cold voice, stopping the argument at its beginning.

“But this is really…” Esler took a breath, upset.

“Cullen, come with me, please,” Leo stood up and took the older man for an arm. “Excuse us for a while, guys,” he said to the rest of the room and pulled Cullen outside.

“You can´t mean that you will bring the two of them along and leave me behind!” Cullen burst out at the second they reached the veranda.

“Why do you have such a big problem with it, Cullen? Do you really think they would betray me?”

The gunman stood there, staring at him, silent for a while.

“No…” he admitted then not very willingly. “But…”

“But what?”

“I just think that´s not such a good idea because they might…”

“Because they might drag me back home?” Leo interrupted the hesitating man. “Is that what you think?”

Cullen went speechless.

“Do you think I did not realize it? I know my brother, Cullen and he didn´t search for me just to make sure I´m still well and alive. He was always against me involving with the Riders. And despite that he is helping us now, he still doesn´t like it.”

“So you know that….”

“Yes, I´m pretty sure he wants to persuade me to leave the gang. Do you have so little faith in me?” Leo asked a little disappointed.

“No! I didn’t mean it like that, it´s just…”

Leo placed both hands on the man´s shoulders: “I do not intend to listen to him. I do what _I_ want, Cullen. So… It´s more like I plan to do the opposite.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well… Don´t you think that the men like Jin and his friend would fit in our group quite well?”

Cullen´s eyes went wide.

“You want them to join us permanently?”

Leo just smiled widely: “This trip will be quite a good opportunity to find out who´s the more stubborn Akanishi here…”

*

 

When they went back inside, Cullen still had a kind of dull expression at his face, but Leo seemed satisfied.

“It´s a done deal then, guys,” he announced. “Me, Oswald, Ryo, Koki, Jin and Kame - we´re leaving tomorrow in the morning. There will be a long way to go and we cannot lose any more time. Get everything ready, I want us to be in Denver within three days.”

Nobody seemed to have any objections, nobody except a beautiful brunette, who was stabbing her lover with a hurt look.


	13. The departure

**J** ane watched as the shadows under the trees gradually swallowed six riders one after another. It was hard to stay still at that sight, even harder than she had thought in the moment she realized there was nothing she could do about Leo´s decision.

Her lover was not only damn attractive; Leo Akanishi was responsible, composed during the tense situations and a very good shooter, but he was also too empathetic sometimes and stubborn as hell. She loved him for what he was like, and she would have never wanted him to change, but still… No matter that Leo promised to be careful and that he had the other guys with him, her heart squeezed anxiously, when she saw him leaving.

At first, Jane wanted to insist on going with them to Ohio, before her common sense pushed itself forward and she realized even without Leo telling her, that it would be safer for everyone if she stayed in Leadville.

Leo swore to come back as soon as possible and she believed him. He always kept his word and thanks to the railway, which enabled much faster travelling than a few years ago, they would be probably together again in just a couple of weeks. But still, it didn´t make any easier to let him go.

Jane was well aware of the constant danger upon their heads and she couldn´t disagree with Leo´s intention to let the situation calm itself down a little, but she just couldn’t keep calm not having him close. Though, she didn´t let her worries show, when they parted… As the Riders´ leader of such a young age he needed their trust, not doubts. And she was determined to support him despite her own inner fear.

Suddenly, a hard hand squeezed her shoulder gently and tore her away from the deep thoughts. Jane glanced to the side, at Cullen, who was there with her to see the little group off just a mile north of the city.

“He will be fine,” the man said, with a surprisingly calming tone.

Cullen seemed to change his attitude a little, after that private conversation with Leo. As if the young leader told him something what managed to ease the man´s suspicion and worries. Jane knew there was also a sensitive side in the older man, though he almost never showed it. And she was grateful that he tried to encourage her.

“I know,” she smiled a little before looking in the direction of the leaving group for the last time and her eyes immediately focused on the last visible figure.

The black-haired Rider stood there, on the edge of the dim light and forest shadow, as he stopped and turned his horse to look back one more time as well. Jane knew she wouldn´t be able to stop worrying, until her lover would be back again, but still she smiled and raised her hand for a parting wave. She saw that Leo relaxed somehow, and waved back. And then he was gone, going after the rest of his companions.

Jane took a deep breath and looked at the temporary Riders´ leader again: “Let´s go… We have a job to do as well.”

Cullen just nodded and gave her the reins of her mare back, which he guarded while she was parting with Leo before. She could still feel the warmness of his kiss on her lips and she prayed to feel it again soon. But till that moment, they had to gather as much as information about Tabor as was only possible and to do it inconspicuously. That man proved himself to be a very dangerous opponent…

***

 

The first goal on the long way of the six-rider group, which they had to achieve, was Denver. They chose the northern road leading out of Leadville, which was the newest one and the most comfortable to use for fast riding. It was more risky than to proceed through the forest directly to the east, as there were many other travelers using it, but Leo insisted they had to move fast, so they took their chances, while keeping on alert.

Quite soon they arrived at the crossroads, which connected their road with the path heading across the mountains to the west, but their journey took them in the opposite direction. For the whole first day, they were quite lucky; they met only a small convoy consisting of three carts and two families, heading towards their naive silver dreams to Leadville. The migrants didn´t give their fast riding group more than one curious glance, not even to Leo with his hat deep in his face. So the beginning of their trip went without any significant issues.

Before the dusk, they picked the leeward side of the path and camped a few hundred meters away from the road itself. While Leo and Oswald remained in their temporary camp to take care of horses and set up a fire; Ryo, Koki, Kame and Jin set off into the darkening woods to gather some wood and water.

The two Riders kept cheerfully chitchatting excitedly about their mission, which finally got Ryo out of Leadville, and Koki didn´t seem to be upset about heading towards just another adventure either. In comparison with them, the pair of new members following them were very silent.

Jin could not help but notice that Kame kept suspiciously quiet since the day before, when it was decided they would accompany Leo on the way to Ohio. Noticing Kame´s serious expression, he figured something was bothering the younger one, but he was not sure about what it might have been. Jin just felt that there was something Kame was not comfortable with, despite that he didn´t talk about it. He wanted to ask him, but it was better to leave it for later, when they would be out of reach of any other curious ears…

Ryo and Koki proceeded forward quickly, a little down the slope, with all their water containers on long strings around their necks or in their hands, and they were increasing their distance from the other two, as Kame and Jin moved under the trees gathering some dry sticks for the fire, which was supposed to protect them during the cold night.

Jin threw some dry branches onto the growing pile and checked the direction in which the two Riders went off searching for the nearest streamlet. He made sure they were nowhere in sight anymore and then searched for Kazuya´s figure in the shadows. He spotted him further than he expected; the younger one was creating his own supply pile near the huge old stump. Jin quickly headed in the same way, picked up some stick here and there, secretly observing his handsome boyfriend. He reached the pile at the moment the younger one finished gathering the next portion as well.

“I think we have quite enough,” Jin noted, brushing the wooden chips and needles off his coat.

“Yeah,” Kame just murmured in agreement and grabbed the rope, which was waiting for its purpose to tie the sticks into one big heap. Jin helped him to place all of them properly, holding the heap down while the younger one tightened the knot.

Kame started dragging the pile towards the one Jin gathered. The older one walked just behind him, wondering if his hunch was worth asking questions, because when Kame was so silent, it usually meant he didn´t want to talk at all, or he was angry.

Kazuya stopped and let the rope fall. Then he crouched next to Jin to help him prepare the next wood supply for transfer in the same way.

“Is something bothering you, Kame?” Jin asked finally, when they were finished.

Kame straightened up and glanced at him, his expression a little surprised and then hesitant. This reaction confirmed to Jin that he was right.

“What is it?” he insisted on his question.

The younger one looked around the darkening woods, listening to their surroundings for a while.

“They can´t hear us now,” Jin said quietly.

Kame focused down at his hands, trying to get some sticky resin off them.

“Well, yes, there is something…” he spoke finally, in a somewhat careful tone. “It´s just that I thought you wanted to stop your brother in what he´s doing. But this mission, for which you had volunteered us, doesn´t seem too much like persuasion to me. More like you support Leo in all of this.”

Jin sighed a little. Of course, he remembered what he had said before he left Bozeman. He had intended to put some sense into his little sibling and prevent him from doing anything more stupid than so far. Leo´s leadership of the Riders, with everything the gang was doing, it was like asking for a death sentence. After Jin finally found him and found out about all the circumstance, it was not so easy to stick to his previous intentions, but he still wanted do protect him.

“That´s right,” he admitted heavily. “I still want Leo to leave this gangster´s life, Kame. It´s just more complicated than I thought…”

Kazuya raised his head, and focused his fierce glance on the older one: “You know that the longer this takes, the bigger chance for it to end very badly is…”

“I´m aware of that,” Jin reacted a little upset about the accusation he noticed in the younger´s voice. “But this is for a good thing, Kame. They´re doing this to help someone! You know that, don´t you?”

“I do, but… We must not get involved in all of this too much, Jin,” Kame hesitated a little about what to say next, almost regretting he even started with it. He disliked saying so selfish things, but he really didn´t like how much involved Jin was starting to be with the Riders, instead of it being the opposite, which he somewhat expected. “Leo is your brother, but he is a wanted criminal. He risks too much with this journey. And if we are caught in his company, we will be all screwed,” Kame felt like an incredible coward talking that way, but he just wanted to remind Jin that what they got into was not any game. Somehow, he felt that Jin didn´t want to see how dangerous it was, because he really wanted to be with his brother and help him in anything instead.

“You talk as if we never did dangerous things,” Jin snorted back, obviously angry now.

“We did,” Kame agreed, thinking hard about how to say it more nicely. “But we didn´t have the Marshalls breathing on our backs. It´s simply too risky to…”

“Don´t tell me you´re so scared of my brother´s company,” Jin interrupted him roughly. “You didn´t have to come, if you didn´t want to.”

Kame stiffened hearing the harsh accusation, suddenly lost on words. He just realized that Jin was really sensitive when it came to his family.

The upset gunman grabbed his rope, ready to head back to their camp. Even though Kame didn´t know how to explain what he meant in a better way, he could not let him leave like that; Jin misunderstood awfully what he meant to say. So he stepped into the other´s way hastily, stopping him with one hand placed over his chest.

“Jin, wait…”

The older one stopped, and stood there for a while with his head low. When he finally raised his eyes, he observed Kazuya with a weirdly hurt look, which squeezed the younger´s throat. Kame took a breath to apologize, but Jin was faster.

“I know you´re right…” he huffed out kind of depressed.

The younger one squeezed Jin´s shoulder shaking his head.

“But I should not have put it like that…” Kame tried to soften the sharp edge of his previous statement.

“What should I do?” Jin asked him fiercely. “Leo is a grown man now and he can make his own decisions. It´s not like I can grab his collar and take him back to Montana!”

“I know… We just have to figure out another way…” Kame reacted softly, realizing only now that Jin really needed to get this out of himself. It was probably quite hard for him to decide what to do in this situation.

“I just want him to be safe,” Jin stated firmly then. “And if that means I have to go along with their plans for now, I will do that.”

“I get it, really,” Kame assured him. “And I´m always on your side, even if it means helping gangsters for a while,” he tried to lighten the atmosphere up with a smirk, before he got serious again. “I came here for you, Jin, not for your brother, that´s the truth. But he is a good guy, as well as the others, and I really don´t mind helping some old lady… I am just worried,” he stated simply in the end.

Jin´s face finally brightened up: “I get it too… I´m sorry I snapped at you, Kazu. Being honest, that´s what I liked about you from the very first day…”

At that, Kazuya smiled, relieved that their little discussion concluded in a good way and happy about that warm glance Jin gave him. He stepped aside a little, intending to take and drag away his wood supply as well, but this time it was Jin´s hand stopping him from the movement.

“I realize that this little trip will be dangerous…” he said, while pulling the younger one back to himself by his coat. “But we can deal with it together, can´t we?”

An encouraging and at the same time sad smile curved Kame´s lips. He slowly raised his hand to scrub some dry needles off Jin´s cheek.

“We can,” he confirmed firmly then.

Neither of them was sure about whose initiative it was this time, but they didn´t really care, when their lips united in a loving kiss. Jin´s fingers squeezed the clothes, which was separating him from the younger one, while Kame´s hands found their way up around his neck and his body closed their distance to the minimum possible.

Jin almost choked on the sudden wave of heat, which flooded him, when Kame got so close. Just that was enough to make his heart beat faster. Would he have reacted like that even if they didn´t have to hold back in front of the others? And was it only him, or…?

Just one glance into the eyes of the young man in his embrace told Jin that Kame was influenced by that as well. He captured the younger´s lips hungrily, earning for their sweetness and shivering reaction, when he sucked on them. Kame pulled back, escaping the needy attack, only to force Jin to take two steps back and lean over the strong tree bole behind. Then the younger one pressed himself against Jin´s body again, savoring on the next kiss no less eagerly than on the first.

By the time they lips separated, Jin had already opened the younger´s coat, his cold hands forcing his way up under the shirt´s cloth, finding the warm skin there and soothing it gently.

“I miss you…” the words escaped Jin´s lips hoarsely.

“But I´m right here, silly,” Kame reacted sheepishly, his fingers playing with the hair back on Jin´s neck.

“You know what I mean…” Jin replied heavily, his glance burning.

He pushed himself away from the tree and changed their positions before Kame could protest. Breathing heavily, Jin let his hands wander further down, the fingers touching the skin just above the belt.

Kame´s eyes were wide and shining and he spoke hoarsely now too: “Jin… They might be coming back the same way…”

“Is that frustrating or exciting for you?” the older one asked deeply.

“The dirty talk now?”

Mocking Kame gasped for breath, when Jin punished his cheeky note by letting one of his hands go even lower and pressed against his groins with his palm. He watched the younger´s reaction defiantly.

“Any other smart remarks?” he asked with his eyebrows raised.

Instead of response, Kame grabbed both sides of his collar and pulling Jin´s face towards himself he sealed his lips with a heated kiss. That was enough of a reply to make Jin forget breathing and his hands to handle with the annoying belt…

“If you do not help me with this, I swear I´ll kick your ass!”

The sudden loud exclaim tore the hungry lips apart and left both guys breathless, staring into the woods startled.

“Call others for help, you idler!”

“You have to be kidding me,” Jin whispered commenting the approaching voices.

“I´ve told you,” Kame murmured gloomily.

Jin leant forward dangerously close again.

“Next time I will just cover your mouth,” he announced hoarsely.

Fighting against the opposite wish, Jin released his hold around the younger one then, and grabbed the rope with the wood supplies once again, while Kame gathered his shaking legs as well to take his own pile.

*

 

They returned to their temporary camp with dusk and the still arguing couple of water carriers on their heels. It was just in time to feed the moribund fire, which their colleagues set up. Avoiding glancing directly at anyone, Kame took care of it right away, while Jin sat down next to his brother discussing with Oswald; they were counting something on the piece of paper, probably trying to figure out the best way to Ohio.

Koki settled with his legs crossed on the opposite side, encouraging Kame not to be stingy with the sticks and make some proper bonfire, while Ryo let the flask with water to circle around and then went for some bread and dried beef from their supplies.

In the end also Ryo and Kame gathered around the cheerfully beaming campfire, which was a very satisfying result of Kame´s skillful hands, which Jin didn´t forget to observe while the younger one was moving around. Actually, he was so busy with watching the slim figure from behind his hat, that he almost didn´t catch the words going out of his brother´s mouth, which were already directed at everybody, and not just to Oswald.

“So, that´s it,” Leo folded up the paper and took the water bottle, which Ryo handed him over. “We should be fine with all the expenses even if we buy the return tickets from our savings.”

“Will we have anything left for some souvenirs?” Koki asked curiously.

“I suppose you understand it´s more important for us to get there with the fastest possible train than buying some crazy stuff again,” the young leader glanced at him strictly.

“Who said something about crazy things?” the blonde one defended himself. “I just want to bring something nice back to the others. You should do some shopping as well, Chief, maybe Jane will not be so upset then,” he grinned calculatingly.

“Let me deal with my girlfriend, Tanaka,” Leo snorted, while Jin finally comprehended what was said about the way of their upcoming travelling.

“Wait a moment… Did you say _train_?” he asked startled.

“Yes,” his brother nodded. “How do you think we´re going to get there? By boat?”

“But Kuro hates trains!” Jin complained immediately. “He went crazy the last time I took one with him!”

Ryo and Koki seemed to be confused, so Kame just pointed towards the place, where they left the horses for the night, to make the owner of that name clear also for them.

Leo blinked, as if he was not sure if his brother was serious or not, before he shook his head: “We´re not taking the horses with us, Bro. We will leave them in Denver.”

“Leave… them?” Jin was the confused one now. “But…”

“It would be too much of unnecessary troubles to take them with us,” Leo explained extremely patiently. “We have a friend in the city; he will take care of them until we get back.”

“Ah, so… That´s good,” Jin admitted, but still didn´t seem to be happy about it.

Kame could easily imagine why it bothered him. The older one did not ever separated from his horse unless it was absolutely inevitable; Kuro was always his best and most loyal friend for years.

“Can this friend of yours be trusted?” Kame asked Jin´s brother seriously then. He was not exactly thrilled to leave Ukushi in some stranger´s hands either.

Leo´s glance was sharp, but not upset, when he replied firmly: “Yes, I trust the guy.”

Kame just nodded, while Jin was obviously overthinking something again.

“How long does it take to get to Ohio, anyway?” the older Akanishi asked to cover his upset mood.

“Two or three days, depends on which train we will be able to catch,” Oswald responded to him this time. “We have to transfer twice.”

“Did you use this way to go there before?” Ryo asked after he gulped down the last piece of his dinner.

The older man nodded: “Yes, I went to see my sister twice like this. It takes long, but it´s much faster than riding on any horse.”

“Nah, I think it will be damn boring…” Koki noted. “Just sitting there in the wagon, doing nothing but staring out of the window…”

“We can buy you a bottle of whiskey for the trip, and you will sleep over the half of it,” Ryo huffed caustically.

“Really? That´d be great!” the blonde Rider beamed with joy, ignoring the fact Ryo was making fun of him.

“I will be rather grateful for something boring,” Leo informed them with a somewhat sad grin. “It will be much faster than to ride, and that´s our point.”

“Got it!” Koki agreed excited. “But I want that bottle!”

 

In the good mood and excited expectations of the following happenings they prepared for sleep, with Ryo keeping the first watch.

Jin covered himself with one of the heavy furs they took with them, right next to the young man, whose eyes reflected the fire, when he caught their glance.

“Good night, Kazu,” Jin murmured gulping down the hot stuff in his throat, which appeared there out of nowhere.

“…night,” the younger one replied in a quiet voice and rolled over on his side.

With a hardly suppressed depressed sigh, Jin settled to sleep too. It was fun to travel in a bigger group, but who would say it could be so annoying as well? At least he could hope in some good dreams…

***

 

Their arrival to Denver was accompanied by strong shower, which chased the citizens away into their homes, so the streets were much calmer than the last time Kame or Jin rode through them. First of all they found the man, which Leo mentioned before, who was supposed to take care of their animals. He was a good-natured blacksmith, who welcomed Leo with a bear hug, while Ryo informed Jin and Kame that the Riders saved his daughters a few months ago.

Then Jin insisted on getting all his things back before they set off, so while Leo, Oswald, Ryo and Koki remained seated in the cozy kitchen with the blacksmith´s wife, he and Kame headed to the Blake Street Saloon once again. Only this time side by side, with which they greatly surprised the receptionist.

Mrs. April scolded both of them first, for leaving their stuff behind without paying in advance for the room, which she couldn´t rent to anyone else because of it. In the end Kame managed to calm her down and she allowed Jin to take the key from the room. The older one let Kame deal with the talkative woman with her endless questions, and he headed up to gather his precious guitar along with the rest of things.

It took them longer than they thought to get back to the blacksmith´s place, especially when they had to walk as they let the horses behind already, not to bring any curious eyes towards the forge building.

Leo was a little bit upset when they finally appeared, snorting something about notorious restrainer. When they finally headed into the streets again, with Leo hunching down in his coat and hat, walking in the middle of their little group, it was already almost noon, which brought Koki and also Jin to constant complaining about their empty stomachs, until Kame cut it with buying four huge tortillas at the market they passed, reminding them those were his last savings and next time they can just eat their own hats. Ashamed Jin insisted on sharing his portion, which Kazuya accepted under the irresistible influence of his puppy eyes.

*

 

The Union Pacific station building was quite huge, with the three impressive entrances and orange notice high above their heads. The train station was opened just half a year ago and everything about it was clean and new. Already from the outside they could hear humming of the crowds of people in there, rushing for their trains, or parting with their dear ones. And also the sharp whistle of the locomotives, which they didn´t see directly, but they spotted the black smoke going up to the sky.

Jin had already been there, passing the hall on his way from Omaha, and Leo and the others were familiar with it as well. Just Kame stared at that fuss and hustle for the first time, obviously amazed.

Oswald and Ryo went to buy the tickets for everyone, while the rest of them waited outside, with Jin, Koki and even Leo smoking and their eyes glancing from one side of the busy street to another. Also Kame seemed to be restless, as he kept studying the faces of passing people. But during the busy afternoon nobody paid them any serious attention, it was more like just glancing at the revolvers alongside their hips made the people to look away and continue on their way hastily.

Despite that, all of them were relieved upon Oswald´s and Ryo´s return with tickets in their hands. They were lucky, their train to Kansas City, where they had to make the first transfer, was about to depart within half an hour.

They gathered all their stuff and one after another entered the impressive white building, leaving the busy streets of Denver behind.

Jin stopped right between the doors, when he realized that Kame was not behind him. He glanced back to find him standing on the pavement and looking around again. Frowning a little, he made a couple of steps back to him.

“What is it?” he asked.

The younger one seemed to be seriously bothered with something, all tense and motionless before he shook his head: “Nothing…”

“Nothing?” Jin repeated, noticing his anxiety.

“Just a strange feeling, nothing else,” Kame assured him, trying to convince also himself. “Maybe from the journey, I´ve never travelled like this before…”

“You´ve never ridden a train before?” the older one raised his eyebrows surprised.

“I have never had a chance…” the younger one shrugged, putting on carefree face, but Jin still noticed his nervousness. He smiled a little, pulling Kame gently by his arm towards the entrance.

“Don´t worry, Turtle, you have your shell with you,” he stated confident and when Kame stared at him dumbfounded, he added grinning: “Me.”

With Kazuya smiling as well now, they disappeared into the building, neither of them glancing back anymore. If they had, maybe they would have noticed a sinewy man with dark stubble of a beard over his face, who was smiling awfully, as he watched the group of gunmen entering the train station building.

Ralph Harvey doused his cigarette on the wall of the building he was hiding behind. He really hadn´t expected that the prolongation of his stay at the Blake Street saloon would have paid off so much. He almost couldn´t believe it, when he spotted Kamenashi talking with Mrs. April at the counter downstairs.

Following him and obviously his friend Akanishi through the streets was not a big deal at all and he almost started to laugh aloud when they appeared again, in front of the ´Sherman The Blacksmith´ house, with the youngster, who wore kind of a hat too big for his head, in the middle of their little circle.

The satisfied bounty hunter set off across the street, intending to ask at the counter which train was leaving the soonest. He would have welcomed a little trip, anyway. It would be convenient to get away from his upset and not quite generous temporary boss, who was not very satisfied with the current results of his mission of capturing the leader of Black Riders…

 


	14. Killing time

**P** uffing out the heavy black smoke, the red locomotive was hurtling forward with rumble which could be heard far and wide on the prairie. Following its iron road, the amazing human creation was heading restlessly to its final destination, and to their first transfer, in Nebraska - Omaha.

Koki was only partially right in his statement that their journey would be boring. Watching the quickly passing wild scenery outside the small windows was not so bad after all, and it was even better, when Leo improved the atmosphere with a bottle of whiskey, which he fished out of his backpack. Ryo stared at it in disbelief that their leader would have given in to the blonde Rider´s pleading requests, whereupon Leo assured him the alcohol for the trip was bought long before Koki even mentioned it.

After everybody took a good gulp, they talked a lot – a bit about the blacksmith´s family, about the guys they left back in Leadville, also about Tabor and the necessity to avoid a direct confrontation with the man. Oswald even explained to them a little bit more about his sister´s condition, which had been gradually worsening for years.

Naturally, they were careful enough to mute their voices during the conversation, but in general they could talk freely, without worrying that somebody might listen to them. They sat in the middle part of the whole train, in the third wagon, which could take in many passengers, as it was equipped with long benches with soft high back rests. The wagon was packed to the last place and almost everybody was chatting excitedly, while raising their voices to talk over the noise of the train´s movement on the rails. As it was, it was almost impossible to catch the exact words of other passengers.

With more passed hours the travelling became much less fun. Despite being faster than riding a horse, the possibilities of the machine were also limited, and there was a really long way to go for the gang.

The evening came; the small gaslights hanging from the wagon´s ceiling were brought to life and the view outside became nothing more than darkness. Late in the evening the train stopped at the North Platte station, already somewhere in Nebraska, where two families with quite loud children got off, along with a few more passengers and the wagon turned very quiet within a few minutes.

*

 

Jin tore his glance off the window, which reflected nothing more than his own face, after the lights of the station disappeared in the darkness. Leo was settled opposite him, with a half of his face covered in white bandages, so that only one of his eyes, which were closed at that moment, was visible. It was Ryo´s idea, since Leo refused to let Koki bleach his hair, to pretend he had some injury on his head, so that he was really hard to recognize now. Jin was quite sure that his brother was not sleeping even if he pretended so. He saw the younger´s hands placed on his thighs firmly, and ready to grasp the revolvers under the coat. It was too soon for Leo to be tired so much to relent in his focus.

Next to the Riders´ leader, there was Ryo talking with Oswald quietly, asking questions about Hamilton in Ohio, which was their final destination. Kazuya was sitting next to Jin, with his head leant back over the seat and his eyes closed as well. Koki was obviously already asleep, as he was snoring lightly, leaning to the side so heavily it looked like he would fall out into the aisle soon.

With a short sigh Jin let his head rest back too. But it didn´t matter that he didn´t see the younger one´s face anymore, he still felt Kame´s leg pressed against his, he could still hear his slow breathing. All six of them managed to fit on those two benches quite comfortably, but the seats were not big enough to be seated with some space between each other. Not that Jin would have any complaints about this positioning, when the train set off from Denver, but with the passing time it turned out to be a sweet torture for him.

They talked about exactly this kind of situation long ago already, but Jin could have never imagined what it would be like, to have Kazuya so close all the time and not being able to touch him or being careful even about the way he talked to him. Simply to behave just like friends, to pretend there was nothing more, that he was not attracted to the younger one as an owlet moth to the light; everything, just not to expose themselves.

Jin even pondered gloomily if he was not _obsessed_ with Kame. He tried to ignore his inner desires as much as he could, but it seemed that the only way to overcome them was to completely ignore Kazuya himself. Which was kind of impossible, when Jin felt the warmness of the other´s body right next to him…

He shifted restlessly, stretching his legs forward, trying to create some space between them. Not very successfully, as he was touching Kame´s hip now instead. He was almost tempted to stand up for another walk to that ugly dark place, which they dared to designate with the notice ´Lavatory´, only if he was not there fifteen minutes ago.

With a corner of his eye, Jin noticed someone´s glance. It was Kame, who observed him carefully, as if the younger one felt his uneasiness. He didn´t say anything, and Jin didn´t dare to look at him. He rather closed his eyes, knowing there was a long night in front of him…

*

 

Kame was not sure about how he managed that, as he was still quite amazed with the speed of their travelling and moreover his pulse got a little faster every time Jin next to him moved, but he fell asleep in the end, lulled to unconsciousness by the regular train´s movement. He was sure he could never sleep like that, until someone´s hand squeezing his shoulder woke him up.

“Kame, wake up, we´re almost there.”

Kazuya raised his head slowly from someone´s shoulder, on which it was resting till that moment and focused his blurry sight at Ryo, who was the one talking to him. The wagon was lit with the first morning sunbeams already.

“Wake up Jin,” the black-haired one continued and turned his attention towards still snoring Koki to kick him out of his sleep as well.

Kame turned to his left side, towards which he kind of snuggled during his sleep and glanced at the deeply breathing guy´s face next to him. The hair fell down into Jin´s face and his full lips were a little parted. Forbidding his brain to even think about such things as kissing that view, Kame forced himself to stop staring and shook with the older one´s knee, as his hand was conveniently placed there, even though he didn´t know how it got at that position.

Jin flinched and straightened, as if he expected something bad to happen and squinted around as an owl.

“We´ll be in Omaha shortly,” Leo from the other side informed them. “Get ready.”

Kame, who only now remembered to check on the younger Akanishi, glanced at him quickly, but Leo didn´t seem to notice anything strange about their… sleeping positions. Jin just nodded and yawned widely, which was something Koki also did at the same moment.

“Damn, my back hurts…” the blonde Rider complained loudly, gaining some amused reactions from the slowly awakening wagon.

“You have nothing to complain about in your age,” Oswald scolded him, who was obviously suffering from the long sitting the most.

“You talk as if you are hundred years old,” Koki snorted.

“I feel like that listening to you,” there was a sharp reply, which made Ryo and also Jin burst out laughing.

*

 

At the busy station they were informed that they have to wait for their next connection, which was supposed to take them to Chicago, for three hours. To Koki´s enthusiasm, Jin remembered a pub near the station, which had basically no closing time, and Leo agreed they could wait there, hidden from curious glances, instead of showing themselves off in one of the waiting rooms, which was occupied by some soldiers heading to the nearest fort.

The beer was really good, properly bitter and cool. So Kame was not surprised that Jin remembered that shady tavern from his first visit to Omaha a few weeks ago. Only to him, the older one mentioned quietly he was there with Captain Walker once, when they waited for the transport to the Fort Kearney.

The gangsters and their ´escort´ were not the only customers in the Durham´s Tavern, despite the early hour. The pub was very conveniently located for the travelers waiting for their transfers and many of them gathered there. Everyone´s mood brightened up with the second tankard of draft beer, even Leo seemed to be more relaxed, only Kame was still sipping from his first glass, feeling somehow uneasy. The bad feeling didn´t want to leave him since they departed from Denver and he just could not figure out what was the reason for it.

In the end Oswald almost had to drag them up to their feet to catch their train. A pretty girl, who was serving them, even gave them some discount from the bill, as she probably found a liking in Ryo, at whom she was smiling all that time.

Laden with their stuff again, the gang waited for the announcement of their departure in the hall, which was much smaller than the one in Denver, but still huge enough to create echoes from the voices of the people there. They stood close to the wall to cover their backs, facing each other in a small private circle.

Not being able to suppress his bad hunch, Kame´s eyes kept wandering across the passengers. And at one moment, he noticed a familiar face, which disappeared somewhere in the crowd right away. Kame frowned wondering if it was not just his imagination and waited if he manages to spot it again…

Once the dispatcher called for the departure to Chicago, he felt that hostile glance from the opposite side of the hall more than clearly. Stepping a little back, to cover himself behind Jin, Kame checked all the waiting people on the other side once again… And his eyes widened, when he finally proved himself that his hunch was right.

“Let´s go, guys!” Ryo incited all of them, while Oswald and Leo were already on their way to the platform. “Another part of our journey is here!”

“I should have taken some beer with me,” Koki snorted at the idea of more sleeping on the train.

Kame realized it would have been useless to make a fuss at the station, so he said nothing and grabbed his bag to follow the others. Just Jin glanced at him suspiciously, noticing his dark expression, but didn´t ask anything.

*

 

The coupe part of the train was packed up, so they ended up on the benches with short rests, from which they could see the other passengers as well this time. But there was a little travel table in the middle of their seats, which Koki used immediately, taking out cards and talking everybody into a poker game.

Jin didn´t like playing cards much, but he had to admit it was more fun like that and the journey went quicker. But he noticed Kazuya was trying hard to enjoy it with them, while his eyes slipped somewhere off into the wagon without any obvious reason from time to time. But he was sure the younger one would tell them what was going on eventually.

“And here we go again – Koki wins!” the blonde one took all the beans they played for to his growing pile. “Another round?!” he asked victoriously.

“You can bet! You are just lucky,” Ryo snorted gathering all the cards again.

Kame leant forward suddenly, so that his face would not be visible above the rests anymore and spoke, finally clearing up the reason for his anxiety.

“Listen up, everyone… Just keep pretending we´re discussing something normal,” he said with urgency in his voice, which made all of them to glance at him.

Leo was the first one to understand and continued in their mocking conversation: “You could be in trouble now, Koki… I´m thinking about joining somebody to make a team,” he smirked and took half of deck of cards from Ryo to help him to mix them. “What is it, Kame?” he asked then more quietly.

“We´re being watched, ever since Denver. I was not sure about it, but then I finally spotted him in the station building in Omaha,” Kazuya explained quickly and leant back to the straight position with a forced smile, as if he was telling some joke.

“By who?” Leo asked sharply, while the others listened anxiously.

“Harvey,” Kame replied almost wordlessly, but despite that his response reached everyone.

Jin stiffened, watching the younger´s serious face. A silent swearing escaped Koki´s lips, while Oswald and Ryo frowned.

“Are you sure?” Leo asked, handing out the cards for the next game.

“Positive. He has a beard now, but it´s him,” Kame nodded, taking his cards and raising them up, so that he half-covered his mouth.

“How could he notice us? He knows only Leo´s face… And yours,” Ryo assumed, taking his cards into hands as well, but not exactly seeing them.

“Maybe it was at the Blake Street,” Jin murmured annoyed. “You said you met him there for the first time, right?”

Kame repaid his glance and nodded shortly: “Probably.”

“Where is he?” Leo asked. “Can you see him?”

“Yes, he sits close to the exit, on the opposite side of the aisle.”

There was a short silence, during which everybody held their cards, but nothing was played.

“We must not let him follow us to Ohio,” Leo stated then, taking out the first card, pretending that he started a discard pile.

“And how do we do that?” Ryo asked, his eyebrows frowned heavily, as he was trying to figure out the best way out of that situation. “We cannot create any fuss right here… That could have ended up very badly for us.”

“I know… But we can set up a trap for him,” Leo reacted thoughtfully.

“A trap?” Ryo repeated doubtfully, while surprisingly Jin seemed to follow the track of Leo´s thoughts.

“Yeah, we can lure him out of the wagon…” the older Akanishi noted. “Out of sight of the other passengers.”

“And then to do _what exactly_?” already quite worried Oswald asked. The man was very anxious about their journey to continue without any big issues. “Throw him off the train?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The duplicate confirmation came from both Akanishi´s at once; in a little different meaning, as Jin only thought about getting rid of the annoying hunter as soon as possible, while Leo managed to figure it out further, aware of their current possibilities, but it definitely had the same meaning.

In the short surprised silence everybody eyed the brothers, who came to the same conclusions so nicely.

“Well, shooting would definitely attract _some_ attention…” Ryo admitted. “This can be done inconspicuously.”

“And just that idea sounds quite tempting…” Koki made a gleeful remark, while he kept pretending to play just another game.

“Harvey is going after me…” the Riders´ leader spoke again then. “So, if we give him a chance to…”

“No,” Jin interrupted him hastily. “You will not be any bait, Brother. Not in this situation, I will not allow that.”

Leo stared at his older brother stubbornly, but also Ryo supported Jin now: “I will not allow that either. That would be too dangerous.”

“But I can do it,” Kame said suddenly.

“What?!” Jin exclaimed so loudly, that Ryo nudged him into his ribs, to remind him to be quiet.

“We know that Harvey is always after information,” Kazuya started to familiarize them with his plan. “He wants to be sure about anything possible, before he acts. He doesn´t know where we are heading now, and he might take his chance when it´s offered. Since he tried to use me before, he might try again… Especially now, when it´s clear that I´m really on your side.”

“Unacceptable,” Jin snorted, refusing the proposal immediately.

But Leo was of a different opinion and ignored his older brother: “I think you might be right, Kame… But it will be very risky; we have no idea what he might do… Did you notice that blue group in the middle of the wagon?”

Kazuya nodded seriously: “I know about them… The soldiers.”

“Exactly, so we will cover you, but we cannot create ANY commotion while doing it,” Leo continued, while Jin was frowning unsatisfied.

“But if he really _is_ following us since Denver, why didn´t he notified those soldiers? Or even Marshalls? It would be so easy to get us all now,” Koki wondered with a dark frown.

“That´s simple,” Kame replied to him. “If the Marshalls get their hands on Leo first, he will not receive any reward.”

“That´s totally right,” Ryo nodded. “He is a greedy bastard.”

“The money always blinds people,” Oswald noted, looking somewhat gratefully at both Leo and Kame, as it seemed they could manage that ´problem´ basically peacefully.

“But at the same time he doesn´t dare to go after you, Leo, while we´re around,” the younger one continued fiercely. “He is alone and he´s waiting for an opportunity. And my presence might spoil it for him…”

“What makes you think he´ll go after you?” Leo asked quietly, the serious glance of just one of his eyes focused at Kame.

“I´ll pretend to notice him only just now. He´ll definitely want to prevent any disarray, which would have warned the rest of you. I bet that he won´t let me go back to you,” Kazuya explained.

“And without asking any questions he might just get rid of you,” so far silently upset Jin snorted.

“Don´t talk as if we _never did_ _dangerous things_ ,” the younger one replied to him with a mysterious expression.

Jin knew very well, what Kame hinted at, while the gang observed the other two a little confused, noticing almost amused Kame and staring Jin.

“Koki and Jin will cover you,” Leo announced decisively, totally not moved by Jin´s objections.

“Sure thing!” the blonde guy nodded. “I´m looking forward to an opportunity to kick that bastard´s ass.”

“Nobody else will move, we don´t want to raise a suspicion either,” Leo continued, in his leader´s tone. “And we will do it shortly before Chicago. If anything goes wrong, at least we´ll have a chance to get away.”

Nobody had any remarks this time, not even Jin, who was still too busy with the staring-match against composed Kazuya.

“Who would say that _you_ will be so eager to get into troubles?” Jin asked on a dark whisper, but still audibly for the others.

“If you have any better idea, we are all eager to hear it, Jin,” Kame reacted calmly.

Koki unsuccessfully suppressed an amused chuckle, gaining a killing glare from the older Akanishi, while Leo noticed the danger in the form of his brother not being in control and tried to calm him instead: “It´s our best chance, Bro, you have to admit that. We cannot let Harvey follow us and we cannot make a fuss at the same time. And it will be the best to do it sooner rather than later.”

“All right, all right, I get it!” his brother snapped a little, placed the cards back at the table, giving up the ´game´, then pulled his revolver out of its sheath and started checking the bullets.

*

_Considering their circumstances, they are awfully noisy_ , Harvey thought, secretly observing the still-cards-playing gunmen. They were too much at ease, as if they didn´t even notice the group of blue-uniformed soldiers in the middle of the wagon, or upset stares from some of the other passengers.

The hunter hid his face behind the newspapers again, listening to every sound, which got to him through the noise of the iron wheels on the rails. The train conductor passed by, informing everybody that they were just ten minutes late, and they should arrive to Chicago in a half an hour.

 _What the Black Riders might want in Chicago? So far from their usual field of actions? Or they head even further, and they want to transfer there just like in Omaha?_ Harvey asked himself those questions many times during the journey, and he just couldn´t figure our anything reasonable.

The papers were awfully boring at the third reading, so he just folded them down in his nap, glancing at the group again. They were laughing over some stupidity, he was sure. It was so easy to follow them, as if they were just a gang of kids.

“Excuse me, sir…” Harvey turned towards the man at the window, who addressed him. “If you´re done with the newspapers, do you mind if I borrow them?”

The hunter almost snapped at that pensioner annoyed, but then reminded himself to fit in among the crowd as much as he could and he just nodded, giving the reading over to the man.

Turning his eyes back to the aisle, he immediately regretted this decision. There was a young man approaching, and to his misfortune it was Kamenashi, probably heading to the toilets, or to what was pretending to be so. That the youngster hadn´t noticed him so far, didn´t mean he could not recognized the hunter from up close.

Instinctively, Harvey raised his hand for a hat, but his fingers touched just the bare hair and he realized he put it up, onto the shelf. He promptly got up, staggered a little because of the turn, which the train just passed through and grabbed his only available cover.

Harvey put his favorite brown hat on his head, and turned to sit down again, but Kamenashi was already there, at his level sooner than he had expected.

First, the young man´s eyes just flew across the hunter´s face without any interest, and Harvey almost breathed out in relief, but then Kamenashi stopped, with his hand already at the door knob, behind which there was a small corridor and the lavatory, and his glance turned back to him, the eyes wide with surprise.

 _Shit…_ Harvey acted quickly, before Kamenashi could gather himself and rush back to the others. Covering it between their bodies, he pulled out a revolver on him and buried it in his stomach.

“Just continue, boy. Go,” he hissed at him, giving more than a clear threat, what would happen if he disobeyed.

When stiffened Kamenashi didn´t move immediately, he pushed him back towards the door and opened them himself. Hoping that it was quick enough for nobody to notice anything strange, he forced him to move there. With the last glance inside the wagon, making sure that the gang still played the stupid games, the hunter kicked the door to close again.

*

 

“The hunter took our pretty bait,” Koki announced grinning, as he was the only one with the view of the opposite end of their wagon, immediately forgetting the cards.

“Fine. Give him two minutes and then…” Leo started, but then stopped talking suddenly.

Also the blonde one stiffened, turning his head slowly. Jin, ready to set off after Kazuya any second, noticed that their eyes were slowly moving, probably following somebody´s movement in the aisle. He forced his palms to remain resting on his thighs and turned towards the reason of their reaction.

A short man in old fashioned tail-coat measured them with a strict look: “Gentlemen... I´m sorry to disturb your obviously funny ride, but could you be more quiet, please? I and my wife are trying to rest.”

The deadly glances almost made the complainer step back. The poor man didn´t choose the best timing…

“We´re sorry, Mister, we didn´t realize that,” Oswald took his chance to speak before any of the youngsters could say something rude. “We will…”

“I don´t think we´re doing any bigger noise than the train itself, Mister,” Koki cut in haughtily, which made the man´s satisfied reaction to die in the very beginning. “Go get some wax into your ears.”

Oswald closed his eyes sighing; his effort just went out of the window.

“That was not very polite, young man,” the dwarf replied upset.

“The same counts for you,” Koki snorted, before Leo stepped on his feet hard, pulling a hurt moan from the blonde one.

“We were promised a comfortable ride! I will not allow any outlaw like you to talk to me like that!” the man reacted quite loudly.

 

Just like the others, Ryo wanted to send that annoying man to some very dark place. They were not exactly quiet during the journey, he had to admit that, but they were not that loud to bother anyone except the husbands in the seats on the other side of the aisle. And that fat penguin definitely chose the worst timing ever for his complaints, especially when there was only a little way left till the final station. To threaten the man to piss off was definitely not an option, despite that Koki and staring Jin obviously thought otherwise. But Ryo didn´t even need his leader´s urgent gesture to watch the other passengers carefully, while Oswald tried to calm the situation down.

 _Crap…_ Ryo thought, glancing over the other passengers, when he spotted the movement in the middle part of the wagon, as one of the soldiers, probably with the highest rank, stood up and with a frowning expression headed towards their seats. So much for not attracting the attention of any government employees…

Leo was really hardly recognizable, so he should be fine… Just… Ryo glanced at obviously upset Jin. Their leader´s brother, that was another story…

He hastily leant forward to him, catching his attention by tapping over his knee.

“The uniform…” he said wordlessly.

To Ryo´s surprise, the older Akanishi didn´t need any other warning to react to the approaching man of the law. He pulled his hat down, so that half of his face was covered and leant back to the seat, stretching his legs, getting himself into the almost half-lying position, pretending that he didn´t care about his surroundings at all.

The complainer didn´t even notice the change of the youngster´s attitude, as he was too engulfed in the argument with Oswald and angry Koki. Ryo leant back next to Leo relieved. Jin might have been a little slow from time to time, but he was definitely not dumb and he realized quickly how dangerous this dumb confrontation could be…

“Is there any problem, Mister?” the blue-uniformed soldier, probably lieutenant or something like that, with the long mustache, addressed the red penguin, as he arrived to them.

“Ah, thank you for asking, Mr. Officer! These boys have no manners! My wife is very tired and needs to rest and they are making this fuss all the way long!”

The blonde Rider was ready to snap at that sleazy man, but Jin´s boot kicked him hard to his ankle, making Koki to shut up. The soldier glanced around the group, which was sitting there awfully quiet, his eyes only shortly stopping at the bandage over Leo´s face.

“The boys just kept themselves busy during the long ride, Lieutenant,” Oswald took a word again, addressing the man properly. “Playing the cards, you see?” he waved the hand above the small table. “We´ve already apologized to this Mister. They will keep it calm now,” he assured both standing men.

“That is not enough!” the penguin in the tail-coat snapped. “I want some satisfaction!”

“What kind of satisfaction you mean, Mister?” the soldier, suddenly not so understanding towards the man now, asked.

“We´ve already apologized, I suppose that´s sufficient enough, Mister,” Ryo involved calmly. “I have to say that right now you´re the one making the noise around.”

The man´s face turned into a huge tomato: “How dare you…”

“He just said the truth,” Koki noted in a cold voice, even though his eyes were burning with anger.

“That´s right… You should not trouble the other passengers either, Mister,” the lieutenant reminded him.

The penguin opened and closed his mouth a few times, as a fish on the shore, before he turned and marched back to his seat. Ryo would not be surprised if the steam started coming out of his ears.

The soldier observed their group once again: “I believe this settles it,” he said.

“I´m sure about that as well,” Oswald agreed politely.

They thought that the lieutenant was finished, but he glanced once again at the bandaged youngster.

“What happened to your face, Mister?” he asked curiously.

“An accident with the boiling water, sir,” Leo replied on a weak voice, while the others stiffened at the question.

“Oh, sorry to hear that… It must be painful.”

The Riders´ leader just nodded and the lieutenant finally saluted for parting.

“Ah, Lieutenant! Here you are!” the train conductor suddenly appeared in the door leading to another part of the wagon, and stopped the man. “I need to talk you. Can you come with me, please?”

“Of course,” the soldier nodded and they both left.

Jin was on his feet sooner than the door could close fully and half on his way through the wagon, when Koki finally managed to move as well.

“Wait!” Leo hissed at him. “Let him deal with it and cover the door, got it? If anybody notices something…”

“I got it, Chief,” Koki nodded seriously and rushed behind Jin, who had already disappeared in the corridor on the other end of the wagon.

*

 

The wind was whizzing around the train, carrying the black smoke from the locomotive away, along with some ashes. The speed seemed to be much higher from the outside than inside the comfy wagon and also the shifting of the machine on the rails felt heavier. Adding it to the muzzle of the revolver floating in front of his face, Kame was not exactly in a comfortable situation.

“You´re crazy if you think I´ll tell you anything,” he announced to the bounty hunter, who was already quite impatient.

They were standing on the small platform with railing, which served for getting on and off the train. Their wagon was connected with the next one by heavy chains and one iron pipe with threads, which clung over each other from time to time, as they proceeded fast towards Chicago. Harvey was pressing Kame against the wagon´s wall, still threatening him with his gun, still asking his questions.

“You think that this gun is not loaded or what? I can assure you about the opposite right away!”

“That will not help you, Harvey!” Kame informed him, focusing at each of the man´s movements. Harvey had to deal with the sudden motions of the train as well. “I don´t know a thing about their plans!”

“Do you really think I will believe that?” the hunter snorted.

“They do not exactly trust me,” Kame snorted, justly upset.

“Oh, how´s that? Since they didn´t shoot you, I´d say that it´s quite sufficient proof of trust in their case!”

“Somebody guaranteed for me…” Kame explained unwillingly. He didn´t intend to tell the hunter anything important, he was just playing for time.

“Guaranteed?” Harvey repeated in upset disbelief. “Aah, don´t tell me they didn´t kill you just because you´re friend of the older Akanishi!”

Kame kept silent.

“What? Did you think I didn´t figure it out? You were never after the money, were you? Well… I don´t care!” Harvey barked. “But if you don´t talk, I have no use for you. You do not leave me many options, Kamenashi…”

Noticing the dangerous shine in the man´s eyes, Kame realized his playing for time just ended. Since the moment when Harvey pushed him through the door to the corridor and then outside, to the platform, he pretended to be clumsy and bad at dealing with the train´s movement, just so that he could use his only chance for surprise attack he had.

Making his legs to relax and cope with the ride, Kame flinched to the side, slipping from the grip of one Harvey´s hand and at the same time grabbing the wrist of the other. He pushed the danger away to the side with the strong move, which bent the hunter´s hand into a very painful position. Harvey groaned in pain and his revolver clanged on the wooden floor before it jumped off the platform.

Kame won the first round, but the hunter collected himself quickly and he was stronger. He grabbed Kame again by both arms and threw with him against the railing, so hard that the younger one almost fell over it. With his heart racing, Kame managed to prevent the ugly fall at the last second, and leant fully back to the platform, but there were already the hard hands again, grabbing him around his neck and forcing him to bend.

Kame felt the railing burying into his lower back, while the hunter´s hands stole air from his lungs. The strong wind plucked at his hair, bringing some dirt into his eyes. Risking losing his balance again, he kicked out, hitting the hunter´s stomach twice. Harvey gasped heavily, but didn´t let go and only more angrily pushed Kame back, to throw him off the small platform.

Desperate Kame stopped trying to get rid of the strong hands and like a cat he aimed for the hunter´s face. Harvey avoided the attack, grinning at him awfully. But his grin turned into a surprised expression, when he was suddenly pulled back from Kame and he had to release his grip.

Relieved to be able to lean onto the wall again, Kame was trying to find his breath, while a new fight concluded on the other side of the platform. This time, it was Harvey who was chased into a corner, as the black-haired gunslinger resisted his attempts for defense, fiercely pushing him to the edge.

Then Kame noticed one of Harvey´s hands going somewhere down in his coat and grabbing something. Suspecting danger, he quickly approached them and instinctively, trying to protect Jin, he nudged the hunter away roughly. Against their common forces, Harvey couldn´t stand still and his body rolled over the railing, while the knife, which he pulled out of its secret sheath, slipped from his fingers.

In the last attempt to remain aboard, Harvey grabbed for Jin´s coat, getting the youngster out of his balance. But Kame grabbed the older firmly for his arm and pulled him back.

Ralph Harvey fell over the railing with a yell, and his body met the stony ground next to the rails with a heavy thud. Both guys managed to spot that the hunter rolled a few times before he remained lying motionless. Then the train moved away, turning a little and covering their view.

Kame was breathing heavily, still holding onto the older one firmly. Jin´s thinking was running on the adrenaline in his blood, and he kept being anxious about Kazuya´s safety, even though he felt his hands on himself.

They looked at each other, the strong wind playing with their hair.

Jin squeezed Kazuya´s arm to make sure the younger one really remained standing there, unharmed: “Are you…”

“I´m fine,” Kame nodded, before Jin could finish his question.

Just then the half-closed door on the platform got opened again. It was Koki this time, checking on them wide-eyed, with revolvers in both hands.

“What was that yell? Are you ok, guys? Where´s Harvey?”

“One question at the time, Koki…” Kame sighed and let Jin go slowly.

“That yell was a good omen for us. Harvey has just disembarked this train a little ahead of time…” Jin explained the events not without a gleeful joy in his voice.


	15. Parting in Ohio

**T** hey didn´t spend much time in the throbbing city at the bank of the Great Lake - Chicago - they just bought another tickets and boarded not such a long, but comfortable train to the south. First they had to cross the State of Indiana, with the main stop at Indianapolis, before the train continued to the east to the State of Ohio.

The moving scenery behind the windows changed significantly on the way. Once they moved away from the north-east part with its many rivers and small lakes, they could see the fields drawing far to the horizon, not cultivated yet, but obviously fertile. But very soon it changed into the flat hostile lands and swamps. The dark clouds were hanging above them, showering the state with the cold raining. But despite this gloomy view, Oswald told them that Indiana was very important transportation crossroads and convenient for industrial companies, which were dragging more and more immigrants to inhabit the inhospitable lands.

After the stop in the capital city their train advanced to the borders with Ohio. Many pastures behind them proved that the state was rich with breeding the cattle. Their goal was Hamilton, the small city just twenty miles in front of the final station in Cincinnati. There was no regular stop in the small town yet, but Oswald negotiated with the train driver to make an exception and stop there for them.

The older man literally had to shake with the young gangsters to bring all of them to their senses, once the train started to brake with whistle of the iron wheels on the rails; the long traveling started to influence them all heavily.

They had to jump down from the tiny stairs to the rail bank, as there was no platform at all, which made all of them staggering heavily, causing Koki almost fall down. It was really about time for some proper moving; their legs felt like jelly after all that sitting.

At the first sight, it seemed that the train driver made fun of them and let them get off in the middle of nowhere, but as soon as the last wagon moved away, forward its final destination, they realized they just stood on the wrong side of the rails.

Hamilton was not a big city with something over 1 500 inhabitants, located at the bank of Great Miami River and its first houses were just one hundred meters from the rails. With quite a relief that they finally arrived, they collected all their stuff and Oswald led the way of their small group into the middle of the town.

Naturally, they aroused quite a fuss as they went through the main street; it was probably not so usual for any travelers to pass by. Despite the gang seemed to ignore all the curious looks during their walk, they were more than aware of every single person on the street. After the incident with the bounty hunter they were all tense and much less full of humor. All of them were cautious about not showing their faces much, and Kame kept scanning the walls of all the buildings for any wanted posters. Just Oswald kept walking forward with his head straight, in the well-known direction.

And Jin was restless. He didn´t like them being so exposed in the imitation of city, which seemed as a dirty hole to him and he kept one of his palm resting on the stock of the revolver under his coat. Moreover, after all those hours without sleep or drifting in almost unconsciousness none of them was exactly on the full alert. If anything happened now, he was quite worried if could ended up pretty ugly. He had a feeling anything trivial could make him unsheathe his guns…

Jin flinched under the light touch on his elbow, releasing his grip on the revolver only when he made sure it was just Kazuya approaching him closer. The younger one pointed at the notice in front of the local sheriff´s shady office inconspicuously.

“There is no poster about Leo,” he noted silently.

“At least some good news,” Jin murmured. “Thank God, he doesn´t spread his _fame_ so far.”

Oswald, walking a few steps in front of them, suddenly stopped at the local store, discussed something with Leo quickly, and then he entered the building together with Ryo.

“What is it?” Jin asked once they reached his brother and Koki, who remained outside.

“Oswald´s sister lives alone, and we all need to eat something. We cannot just ambush her like that,” Leo explained, with his face still half-covered by the bandage.

So, they set off for the final mile of their journey laden not only with their stuff, but also with a few heavy bags of food supplies.

*

 

Mrs. Olivia Barlett lived in the house, which was located aside from the city center, on the hill above the river. It was a beautiful place to build a home, with a nice view and still enough shadows from the trees around; also with a small yard for the garden, and plenty of space for fields, if somebody would have grown there anything. But it was more than clear that absolutely nothing came out of the soil for quite a long time.

Oswald was already standing in the door, talking with some small girl, when the rest of them dragged their legs up the hill finally. There was a small summer-house, or better said two benches and one table under the small roof just at the edge of steep hill, which led to the bank of the singing river and they headed there as one man. All gunmen dropped the bags to the ground and most of them settled at the benches as if there was a ten-mile-long march behind them.

“I don´t know about you, but I´d really appreciate a tankard of beer and soft bed,” Koki exhaled, stretching his back.

“Same for me,” Ryo sighed, with his chin resting in the palm, as he supported his elbow over the table.

“You kept talking about the train being so awesomely fast, but it seemed long as hell to me,” Jin, leaning over one of the pillars, which hold the roof above them, joined the other guys´ complaining.

Kame was checking out the content of the bags from the city store, somewhat ignoring them, but Leo, who sat with his back turned to the house and with an obvious relief he had already pulled the bandage off his face, burnt all of them with a strict glance.

“I didn´t know I was travelling with the kindergarten-aged kids,” he snorted.

“Oh, come on, Chief, don´t tell me you´re not tired!” Koki complained immediately.

“Of course I´m, but I don´t need to whine about it as a little girl…”

Kame covered an amused smile, while both Ryo and Koki sulked in insulted silence, and Jin fished something out of his bag.

“You can insult us whatever you like, little Bro… The more will be left for us,” he announced gleefully, placing the small bottle of whiskey at the table in front of Ryo. “Sorry, it´s not a beer, guys…”

It seemed that both brothers had the very same idea at the beginning of their journey.

“Man, who cares about beer!” Koki exclaimed excited, and grabbed for the bottle, snitching it of Ryo´s hand. “Cheers!”

A long gulp disappeared in the blonde´s throat in no time. Ryo took the bottle back before the greedy man could take more.

“It´s great!!” Koki gushed over the satisfying drink. “Thanks, Akanishi!”

“To our successful arrival,” Ryo raised the bottle as well, before handing it over to Kame, who didn´t have any objections against the alcohol either. Jin smirked at his younger brother, when he received the whiskey back, to take a gulp as the last one.

“Continue like this and you´ll end up as drunkards,” Leo evaluated the common enthusiasm over the alcohol.

“You´re just envious,” Koki grinned at him satisfied.

Leo rolled his eyes, probably wondering why he even bothered with any remarks.

The little girl finished the conversation with Oswald and rushed away, avoiding the occupied shelter with a wide arch, and the man disappeared inside the house.

While they were waiting, the sky got darker than before and it looked like it would start raining soon. Jin offered his bottle for the second round, which was accepted by stiff ignorance from Leo and very cheerfully by the other guys.

When Oswald finally came out again, he was awfully pale and the worried wrinkles around his eyes and mouth deepened so much the man seemed to be sick himself…

*

 

The pity was the very first what flooded Jin, when he saw Oswald´s sister for the first time. But just a little more than half an hour was enough for that feeling to turn into admiration.

According to what Oswald told them during the journey, his sister was diagnosed with cancer one year ago. But her doctor didn´t recommend arranging the operation on the tumor, because the woman was heavily anemic and there was a high possibility of her death in the process. Oswald tried to contact many doctors and specialists in the state, but once they read Olivia´s diagnosis, everybody refused to take the responsibility, not even for the money. Until her personal doctor proposed to arrange the operation in Europe, where they had much better possibilities for those situations and he even knew one good colleague, who would be willing to do it.

But the time was not merciful towards the sick woman and the disease gradually stole more and more of her energy and body itself, as they could see with their own eyes now…

Oswald jumped up on his feet as soon as a weak voice, which greeted all of them, was heard from the door of the spacious kitchen, where they settled down, to hide in front of the raining and to discuss their next actions.

“Olivia! You should stay in your bed!” upset Oswald marched towards his sister, while the others observed the woman surprised.

Olivia was very pale, in an almost frightening way, so skinny it looked that even a little stronger blow would have snapped her in two halves, her hair lacked any shine and her cheek bones were clearly showing under the thin skin. But still, this wispy woman observed them with kind and lively eyes, when she spoke: “What sort of a host I would have been not to welcome so many guests?” she asked her brother softly, remaining standing in the door, though she leant onto the crane heavily.

“Olivia, you need to rest…!”

“Don´t be rude, my dear Brother,” the woman interrupted him and avoided his hand, with which he wanted to support her, proceeding towards them. “Oh, so many young men… It´s been a while since I had such a handsome company,” to the surprise of all of them that weak woman giggled and then nodded her head slowly. “Olivia Barlett,” she introduced herself. “Nice to meet the friends of my stubborn brother.”

The guys looked at each other and then at Leo a little hopelessly. The young leader took a breath and also the responsibility, and started their introduction one after another with their real names. Their female host gave to each of them a weak smile and then she proceeded towards the kitchen shelves, leaving her worried brother behind.

“I´m really sorry, but I don´t eat much, I have almost nothing to offer you…” she sounded really unhappily now, placing her crane over the wall.

“It´s all right, Madame,” Leo assured her hastily. “We´ve brought enough food along. No need to worry.”

“Oh, that´s great, but still… At least I´ll make you some tea and… there are cookies. Sara, that good girl brought them…”

“Sister, I need you to go back to your bed,” Oswald seemed really upset about his sister behavior, as he grabbed the crane again, ready to push it back to her hand.

“Do not command me,” Olivia opposed him suddenly firmly. “I´m sick, not helpless,” she took the tin kettle from the shelf roughly.

The kettle almost slipped away from her weak fingers, but then someone´s else hand kept it safely in her grip.

“Let me help you, Madame,” it was Kame who appeared on the woman´s side suddenly and politely took the kettle from her hand to pour water in it.

“Oh, thank you,” Olivia smiled at him pleased. “See? This boy has some manners, not like you.”

Oswald seemed a little stunned by his sister´s attitude, not able of other objections.

“Oswald…” Ryo approached to the man silently. “Just sit down, we´re right here, if anything…”

Still so lost on words, Oswald fell down at the chair, while his sister guided Kame where to find some mugs, tea bags and sugar and in the end they prepared the hot liquid for everyone together. Almost everything was arranged by Kame, who handily took anything even a little difficult from the woman over, but Olivia still seemed to be satisfied.

Jin, sitting next to his brother, was observing Kame´s ´dancing´ around the woman quite proudly. Kazuya was amazing, that he figured out how to deal with the poor woman, that even Oswald couldn´t object.

The other guys were also quite relieved and grateful that Kame was able to calm the situation down so quickly. It didn´t feel well to listen to the siblings´ arguing, especially when the woman seemed to be so fragile. Koki even raised both his thumbs up towards the younger one inconspicuously. Though, at one moment Jin noticed a very sad expression at Kame´s face and he realized that the younger one had probably remembered his mother, with whom he certainly had to go through very similar ´arguments´ and situations. The more admirable his behavior was…

Oswald still had nothing to say, when Kame placed the kettle and mugs at the table, offering Olivia his chair. The woman smiled at him so happily, it really amazed the others, as that expression made her face so much younger.

She surprised all of them again, when she asked them about their journey, one after another, remembering all their names. Very soon the guys were chatting with the nice woman cheerfully, only Oswald observed his sister gloomily. But it was no wonder he was so worried…. No matter how active the woman was, it was painfully visible she was very ill and her body weak. That was also from where Jin´s admiration came from – Olivia was amazingly strong-willed person.

*

 

“This… feels… incredible.”

Koki was lying as long as wide on the hard mattress, which was placed in the row with others on the floor of the room, which was used as the living room, and he sounded so comforted, as if he was lying in the pile of softest feathers.

“I cannot agree more,” Jin, enjoying the same position on another mattress, joined him.

Finally to be able to lie on their backs, no matter how hard their temporary beds were, was a huge relief for their stiffened bodies and very tempting to fall asleep despite it was just shortly after the noon.

Leo and Ryo settled themselves in the opposite corner, but kept sitting there and they were checking on the cash they brought safely sewn up within their coats. Both Koki and Jin could hear them counting the price of their trip back and it sounded that it would be a little tough, but neither of them cared.

Jin let his eyes closed, feeling light thanks to the third, and also the last, round of whiskey they shared from his bottle and quite sleepily he was pondering about what reason to figure out for him and Kame to stay alone for a while…

“How is she?”

“She fell asleep… I´ve not seen her so active… for long.”

“I think she´s happy you´re with her now.”

“Really? I don´t really know… She seems to fall in love with Kamenashi,” there was a little amused reply. ”She asked about him a lot.”

Jin, so far not caring about the voices of his brother and Oswald, who appeared in the room, once he took care of his sister, sharpened his ears immediately.

“I´m not surprised about that,” Ryo joined the conversation. “He is quite an interesting person… Where is he, anyway?” he added a question, as he looked around the room and didn´t find the younger one next to Jin.

“I thought that you ganged up on him and forced him to go there…” Oswald reacted.

Jin sat up so quickly, that his back, and old wound on the stomach ached: “What are you talking about?” he asked only a second quicker than Ryo.

“He´s in the kitchen, preparing lunch, he said,” Oswald shrugged.

Jin breathed out realizing that was why Kame was so curious about the content of the shopping bags, while Ryo and Leo blinked surprised and Koki raised his head up as well.

“He´s cooking?” Ryo seemed baffled. “That´s…”

“Not so surprising,” Leo finished amused. “Incredible Kamenashi in action…”

“You said something about food?” the blonde one asked, and Ryo threw a pen at him.

“You´re so simple person, Tanaka, it hurts me,” the black-haired Rider announced. “Just alcohol, food and women… there´s nothing else on your mind.”

“As if you´re not the same, Nishikido,” his blonde companion snorted and threw the pen back at him.

“Go help him, Koki,” their leader ordered the lying one. “Kame is not our personal cook.”

“What? Why me?” the Rider pouted annoyed, not willing to leave his bed.

“Don´t bother, I´ll go,” Jin was already standing, a little ashamed that in all his carefulness to avoid the younger one, he didn´t even notice when Kame disappeared from the room.

“You go just so that you can eat away in advance,” Koki accused him, which Jin replied with a victorious grin.

*

 

Kame was trying to remember the recipe for the marinade, which prevented the meat to go so hard, when it was prepared on the stove, repeating the ingredients wordlessly for himself and searching through the small bags on the top shelf. He was so focused on it, that he didn´t notice the presence of somebody else, until the person spoke right behind him.

“Hello, Mr. Cook,” Jin grinned when Kame flinched and glanced back at him with three bags of spices in his hand.

“I guess none of you want to starve,” the younger one noted, repaying the warm glance of the dark orbs.

“But you should have said something… You don´t have to do it alone.”

Kazuya smiled: “You seemed to enjoy resting too much.”

“I would have enjoyed it more with you…” the older one sighed a little. “Now please; the instructions for how I can help you.”

 _Grab me into your arms and kiss me so that I forget about any meals at all…_ Kame´s desire betrayed him in his mind.

Jin had his hands placed in the pockets of his trousers, but his eyes were clearly telling Kame he would love to have them somewhere completely else. He squeezed the bags with spices a little too much, so that the dry herbs crunched under the pressure. He reminded himself not to make things even harder for both of them, which he definitely would have done, if he jumped around the older one´s neck.

Kame cleared his throat a little: “Well, you can peel the potatoes, while I prepare the meat and salad; I´ve already put everything at the table.”

“Good, I´m on it!”

Jin turned and pulled the hands out of his pockets only when he sat safely behind the table and started to peel the vegetable pieces with a little more force than was really necessary. Kame forgot himself a little, as he caught himself staring at the guy, before he turned away and grabbed the big knife to cut the flesh of meat into small pieces.

*

They were alone in the kitchen, but Jin could hear the voices of others from the living room, and any of them might have entered any moment. That was why he didn´t grab Kame around his waist when he came in, despite that was exactly what he wanted to do. They had to be careful, careful, careful…

The potato cracked into two under the pressure he made with the knife. With a heavy sigh, he grabbed another one and his eyes flipped towards the figure of the younger man, who was skillfully preparing the meat chops for baking with his back turned towards him.

Kazuya seemed to be concentrated at his task, his hands steady as he cut the pieces. The young cook was just in his shirt and black trousers, which clearly copied the line of his bottom cheeks…

Jin felt the sharp edge of the knife where it was not supposed to be and tore his eyes off the tempting sight to focus at potatoes again…

*

 

Jin knew very well about that one of many Kame´s good qualities, but the other guys seemed to be incredulous at the start, even though the smell from all the pots and bowls was amazing. But it was until the first bite. After that, Kame was flooded with flattery at his cookery, everything was eaten till the last piece and Ryo even pushed the younger one back to his chair, when he noticed he was going to wash the dishes and did it instead.

Koki was sprawling in his chair, soothing his full stomach for a while, before he smiled at the young cook lovingly: “Kame-chan, I want you as my wife!”

Ryo at the sink started laughing heartily, while Leo just shook his head and Oswald rolled out his eyes at the youngster. The black stare from the older Akanishi didn´t seem to bother the blonde one at all.

“What is that ´–chan´ for?” Kame asked amused.

“For the memory of my best CHANCE meeting ever!” Koki proclaimed proudly.

Ryo turned back to them drying his hands into a towel: “Where´s the point in that?” he asked caustically.

“Are you deaf, man?” Koki asked indignantly. “´ _Chan_ ´ as the ´ _chan_ ce´! It´s a magnificent idea! My idea! Don´t you dare to call him like that!” he added threateningly.

“As if I would bother Kame with that,” Ryo snorted.

“But he likes it! Don´t you, Kame-chan?!”

Kazuya was laughing breathlessly over the explanation and not exactly able to respond, so he just shook his head.

“See?” Koki stuck out his tongue at Ryo.

“Very grown-up,” Leo noted.

“I´ve never claimed to be an adult!” Koki objected fiercely.

Ryo walked around the table and tapped Jin´s shoulder: “Jin, it´s _raining_ above you,” he commented the gunslinger´s gloomy face. “What´s up, you didn´t have enough?”

It took Jin quite an effort to stop sulking over Tanaka´s stupid ideas.

“I did…” he murmured. “It was great, Kame, thanks.”

The younger one glanced at him closely: “You helped out as well, so you´re welcome, Jin.”

***

 

They had a chance to enjoy Kame´s cooking for two more days. That was for how long it took Oswald to arrange everything necessary for departure. It was decided they would accompany him and Olivia to Cincinnati and set off to the back trip from there.

It went even faster than one would have thought and there they were, standing at the platform, watching the comfortable wheel chair with Olivia in it to be placed into the train by two strong men. She raised her white hand and waved to them for one last time, with a soft smile at her dry lips, before they pushed her inside.

Oswald parted with each of them properly, shaking with their hands many times and thanking all over and over again. He promised Leo to let him know how the operation went and with a shining in his eyes, which he tried to cover unsuccessfully, he boarded the wagon after his sister.

Kame and Jin were standing a little aside, at one of the pillars, while Leo, Koki and Ryo were saying the last goodbyes to the man, standing at the train.

“What´s bothering you, Kazuya?” the older one asked suddenly and kept his eyes attached to the train, even though he knew Kame turned to look at him. “You seem troubled since we had arrived to Hamilton. Is it something about Olivia?”

Kame sighed and Jin knew he was right about his suspicion.

“I really admire her, you know…” Jin spoke again, when the younger one kept silent. “She has such a strong will.”

“Yes… She does…” Kazuya agreed on a silent voice.

“Did she remind you of your mother?” Jin asked softly.

The younger man cringed a little, hiding his hands into the pockets.

“A lot,” he admitted then, the hidden pain suddenly coming out in his voice. “But… There´s something else I keep thinking about. I still wonder if I should say about it to Oswald…”

“What do you mean?” the older one asked carefully. He really didn´t want to stir in that wound in Kame´s heart more than necessary.

“I used to help out the Shaman often and I saw many sick people, having more or less serious diseases and… She´s dying, Jin,” Kazuya stated sadly. “I think she was just waiting for her brother. She loves him so much; she wanted to see him, but… I´m afraid that this is it for Olivia...”

“And you just could not say it to Oswald. Not when he clings to that Europe hope so much, right?” Jin figured out the rest.

Kame nodded wordlessly and Jin let the whistle of the parting locomotive to die out, before he spoke again: “I think you did the right thing, Kazu. Leo would have given him that money anyway, no matter what you would have said.”

This time he repaid the younger´s glance. It took a moment, but then finally Kame seemed to relax a little: “You´re right. Thanks…”

Jin just smiled: “I always say it – you worry too much.”

The rest of their group was slowly approaching them, once they were finished with waving at the man, who helped them so much.

“We would have been lost without him…” Ryo sighed heavily, watching the last leaving wagon. “And I don´t even know why he was really helping us in the first place.”

“I don´t think it matters now,” Leo said on a silent voice. “But… I know he wanted to revenge to Tabor for that his sons died in one of his mines… We gave him that chance.”

“Do you think we´ll ever see him again, Chief?” Koki asked, exceptionally gloomy as well.

“No, I don´t think so,” the leader replied after a while, with a strangely definite emphasis.

 


	16. Unexpected

**A** ll windows of the express train to Chicago were stained with the heavy drops of rain. The iron way in front of the puffing machine was wet with the water and the day was more grey than bright. Five gunslingers sat in the corner of the last wagon, hovering in their warm coats. The heating stopped working shortly after they set off from Cincinnati and the air inside the wagon was awfully chilly. Nobody of them talked, the young men were sitting there each of them lost in own thoughts.

Leo´s face was once again half-bandaged with some cloth. He was not very happy about that, and he kept scratching his nose.

Jin deliberately settled on the seat next to his brother. He was in no mood to deal with Kazuya´s closeness more than necessary and he even avoided looking at the younger guy, who sat on the opposite side at the window, next to clingy Koki. Somehow, Jin managed to persuade himself that he doesn´t mind the blonde Rider´s extraordinary behavior, although he had to repeat to himself quite many times there was absolutely no reason for him to be upset…

 _Apart from that you are unreasonably jealous_ ; his inner voice reminded him gleefully.

Ryo, sitting beside Jin, was playing with their train tickets thoughtfully. The black-haired one was uncommonly silent since they had parted with Oswald and his sister. And even the blonde noisy Rider restrained himself from the usual funny remarks.

It was a long and gloomy journey. Nobody said it aloud, but all of them hoped to get over it already and be back in Denver as soon as possible. But before that, there was not a very pleasant delay awaiting them in Chicago…

***

 

 “Why do you keep checking the newspapers?” the curious voice spoke right to Kame´s ear, as the blonde Rider peeked from behind the younger´s shoulder at the ´ _Chicago Tribune´_ in his hands.

“It seems strange to me there is absolutely no wanted poster regarding to Leo around,” Kame replied, as he kept scanning one page after another.

“That´s good news though…” Koki didn´t understand his concern with that.

“It depends… Jin´s brother is wanted nationwide, that means in all states belonging to US. There should be at least a mention about it. What would be the point of those posters otherwise?”

“Maybe they ran out of paper,” the Rider chuckled. “Or they care more for different news… You see? _The biggest building in the city_ … _A newest saloon at Margaret_ …. _Visit the most luxurious hotel in the state_ …” Koki read some of the headlines, as Kame turned the pages.

“Maybe you´re right,” Kame admitted unwillingly, turning to the last page without interest already.

“Ah, here we go!” the blonde one was the first to notice and tapped at the sheet, which was filled with many small, mostly hand-drawn, pictures of faces. There was around fifteen of them.

The eyes of both young men ran across the page hastily, until they reached the picture of a well-known face at the end of the middle line.

“It´d be too nice if they forgot about our dear leader… Satisfied now?” Koki asked Kame somewhat mockingly.

“At least we know we were not careful for nothing now,” the younger one murmured in response and just from the habit to finish what he started, he looked through the rest of pictures as well.

“Those are some pretty ugly fellows,” Koki evaluated the rest of criminals critically. “Our Leo is like a princess among them,” he stated amused, when Kame suddenly stiffened seeing the very last mini-poster.

“What is it?” Koki asked, when he noticed the younger one staring without a move.

“There´s Grenet as well,” Kazuya replied on an uptight voice.

The Rider checked the page again and his grin disappeared immediately.

“Pox on that fucker,” he snorted and without any other interest in the news he sat down at the pile of their bags. “If those crappy Marshalls did their job properly, he´d have been crossed out a while ago,” he kept complaining. “Just for how long is he on the run?”

“For three months,” the younger one reacted, folding the newspapers.

Kame didn´t look at irritated Koki, his eyes glanced down the stairs of the huge building, at which they were standing, towards the smoking area just next to the station. Jin was there, leaning over one of the empty benches. He was smoking and observing the rushing people on the street from behind his hat.

“Well, if he intends to interfere in _our_ way, we´ll take that freedom off him before you could say the president´s name,” Koki kept murmuring, but Kame didn´t hear him. His eyes were firmly set at the black-haired gunslinger, who seemed to be somewhat inapproachable at that moment.

Kame was not upset that Jin avoided him as much as possible; they were both trying to behave normally, but it was hard. A few times Kazuya noticed that Jin was hurt when he ignored the older one. And when Jin did the same, he became so anxious afterwards that he almost couldn´t speak with Kame while looking him in the eyes.

Jin finished the cigarette and pulled the package out from his pocket again. Kame frowned seeing that; the older one had also started smoking more than before.

Consumed with observing his secret lover, Kame was not aware of the other two Riders´ return from inside the station, until somebody squeezed his shoulder.

“Kame, are you all right?” Ryo asked him, his cheerful face a little worried over the younger´s ignorance.

Kame let go of a short sigh: “Yeah, I´m fine… What is it?”

“I asked you if you could go for Jin, we need to discuss something… Seems we´ll stuck here for a while.”

*

 

The city district around the main train station was similar to a huge anthill. Ten years ago, the great fire destroyed almost half of the city in flames and that disaster triggered the efforts to build safer buildings than the wood ones. Many constructions from steel and stone happened to appear one another, each bigger and higher than the previous one and Chicago definitely aimed for being the most buzzling and most populous in the state, despite not being its capital.

Just next to the station, only a few yards away, one of those buildings was in the middle of construction, with the foreman yelling the orders at his subordinates, as he tried to over-shout the noise of hammers, welders and whistle of locomotives.

Jin was watching the rushing human ants in the streets, including many workers and businessmen. Except the heavy smell caused by all those heavy works, there was also the scent of water in the air, as Chicago was located right at the bank of one of the Great Lakes. The weather improved a lot, in comparison with their rainy journey before, dragging also children and many couples to the streets, to enjoy some plays and walks.

Chicago itself seemed to be alive thanks to all those people. Jin was not even alone in the smoking area, which was rather a new thing. There were other three men and even one woman, who seemed to be a reporter with a small notebook on the strip hanging over her neck, enjoying the same sin. But still, Jin felt desperately lonely, despite that the main subject of his thoughts was standing at the stairs just a few meters away.

 _What would it be like to walk on the street just like those couples there? Without caring what the other people might think?_ he asked himself gloomily, having an immediate response on that. _We_ wo _uld have ended up in jail, at the best…_

Jin, upset about own stupid ideas, reached for another cigarette. But what usually worked, seemed to be out of order this time. How many more hours was it back to Colorado? Spent in one wagon? Too many… He was quite sure that if he ended up next to Kame again, he would go crazy…

Jin had to use two matches to be able to inhale more nicotine finally.

“Akanishi, is that you?”

He almost choked on the desired smoke instead, hearing the surprised voice. Raising his head tensely, Jin ended up looking into the face of a tall uniformed man, which just brightened up with a smile.

“It is you!” Walker walked off the pavement and approached the gunslinger reaching out his arm for a handshake. Remembering his manners, Jin repaid the firm grip, but was not able of any response, stiff in unpleasant shock.

John Walker. A man, who helped him and Kame more than once… A man, with whom he searched for his brother…  Captain Walker, government soldier. Here, in Chicago, right in front of the building inside which his brother Leo could be found.

Jin glanced shortly over Walker´s shoulder. There were two other soldiers, probably Captain´s subordinates, waiting on the pavement, with non-understanding expressions in their faces.

Finally, Jin managed to force out a smile, being very careful about not giving even the shortest look towards the station: “It´s nice to see you again, Walker.”

“You too, you too,” the captain seemed honestly pleased and tapped the younger man over the shoulder. “I would not ever imagine encountering you. What are you doing here?”

“Well,” Jin cleared his throat and doused the barely started cigarette to gain some time. “That´s a long story…”

_Just what in the world I should say now? Definitely not the truth…_

Walker was an honest and fine man, but he would hardly had any understanding for his younger sibling – the wanted criminal – he was sent after in the first place, before he was called off elsewhere.

“Still searching for your brother, I suppose…” the captain raised his eyebrows.

All Jin´s guts clutched in anxiety: “Well, yes…”

Walker´s eyes narrowed at that hesitant reply: “You had no luck yet?”

“He did,” another voice replied instead of anxious gunslinger. “I found _him_ ; I guess that was lucky enough for Jin.”

“Kamenashi!” the captain´s face brightened again, when the young man in the dark coat approached them and shook hands with him. “How comes you´re here as well?”

“I promised to help Jin out with the search after his brother,” Kame informed the uniformed man smiling, though Jin, who breathed out in relief over the other´s appearance, noticed that his eyes had a very careful and tense expression. “I accompanied the Blackfeet Tribe to the reservation first and then we reunited back in Denver.”

“Ah, is that so? But what are you doing here? In Chicago?” Walker wondered.

“There was a word that somebody spotted Jin´s brother on the way to Nebraska, so we just followed the track here,” the younger one replied, looking into Walker´s face firmly. “But it was just a false alarm, it seems,” he shrugged.

“Now I understand,” the captain nodded, obviously not suspicious over the explanation. “So did you enjoy the city at least?”

“Not much,” Jin murmured, finally finding his voice again. “We want to go back quickly.”

“Well, then we might see each other in Colorado soon,” Walker noted.

“How comes?” Kame asked interested.

“I have some business to deal with here, with my superiors and then… I suppose I will be sent there.”

“Because of the Riders or something else?” Jin asked carefully. “The last time you said there was another task for you.”

“Well, I assume it´s because of the Riders, Akanishi,” the captain admitted slowly. “As I heard my colleagues in Denver are not able to deal with them.”

“So they want to send you…” Kame figured.

Walker sighed a little, suddenly exposing a very tired face: “Probably. Sometimes it´s difficult to say what is needed of you. In any case, I hope you still intend to inform the Marshalls if you come across your brother,” the captain glanced at Jin again.

“You know very well that my main intention is to keep my brother away from the gallows, Captain,” the young gunslinger replied a little harshly.

Walker repaid his glance for a while, before he smirked a little: “That´s right, I know that. Then maybe it would be better if we _didn´t_ meet again. Well… Honestly, I´d rather stay here, but unfortunately I cannot give orders to myself,” the captain joked suddenly, surprising both of them. “Anyway, I need to go now.”

“Sure, it was good to see you, Captain,” Kame kept the friendly way of his tone, parting with the honest man.

“The same here,” Walker nodded and waved. “Take care, guys.”

The captain turned away, joined his subordinates again and soon his figure disappeared behind the corner. Kame and Jin kept standing in the smoking area, equally stunned about the sudden and unexpected meeting, with somewhat strange conclusion.

“I´d like to hug you right now,” Jin said, still staring in the direction, in which the soldiers left.

Kame breathed out, relaxing from his straight position. Their eyes met and Jin _almost did_ what he had said. Hastily, he looked away and checked out the stairs.

“Where are the others?”

“I noticed Walker coming to you and told them to hide inside,” Kame informed him. “We might have a small problem. We don´t know for how long we will have to wait for our train. There was some accident on the railway and they postponed the connection to Omaha.”

“Damn…” Jin murmured, as they already walked back to the station. “That´s really something what we need right now.”

“Maybe they will get it in order soon,” Kame reacted hopefully and his arm touched Jin´s as they went through the door, making the older one´s throat squeeze in the very narrow line.

“I doubt that,” Jin reacted gloomily. “We are not that lucky.”

The Riders´ gang was standing in the darkest corner of the station building, welcoming the two of them with very dark stares.

“Oh, damn, they noticed Walker talking to me?” Jin whispered.

“Yes,” Kame confirmed a little anxiously. “Be prepared to explain that…”

“Another friend of yours?” Leo asked not very friendly, as soon as they reached the gangsters.

Jin sighed: “Look, I can explain that…”

“But first we need to buy something to drink, I guess,” Ryo noted, with arms crossed across his chest. “I´m starting to be really amazed with all those explanations you flood us with.”

“If there´s a good reason for some whiskey, I´m all in,” Koki announced, seeming to be the least bothered with their connection with a highly-ranked soldier.

“We have some time for a drink, anyway,” Ryo reminded.

Leo closed his eyes for a while and when he opened them again, he seemed to be somewhat defeated, but also calmer: “All right, let´s get something to drink and eat… I don´t want to listen to this with my stomach empty either.”

*

 

In the end it took almost eight hours before the departure of special express to Denver was announced. Because of the delay, it was decided that the train would continue directly to Colorado, without the necessity for passengers to transfer in the capital city of Nebraska.

They boarded the express shortly before the sunset, tired, but in a surprisingly good mood. Leo, Ryo and Koki let Jin and Kame tell them about their experiences with Captain Walker and about why Jin joined him in the search after Leo without unnecessary hostility. For the relief of both, the Riders took quite an understanding opinion and none of them made a fuss about it. Ryo even mentioned that if the man was really so honest and reliable, it could be quite an advantage for them once, as it was possible they would talk him off from pursuing after the Riders, stating all the good reasons for that. Kame considered it very unlikely, but it made Jin to ponder about that option a lot.

As the Western Union wanted to make up to the passengers for the huge delay, they equipped a long coupe-type train, the dining wagon included, for their journey. It was one of the new trains, very nice, fast and well-equipped and it soothed the waiting people´s outrage a little.

Dragging their things on board, the gang headed for the last wagon again and searched for a free coupe. Leo, Ryo and Koki occupied one of those in the middle and Koki spread himself over three seats immediately, stretching his aching back and waving the two last arriving – Jin and Kame – off with the cocky gesture.

“Go find another one,” the blonde one recommended them grinning. “I will not give up on this space.”

“I don´t think it´s such a good idea to split,” Ryo frowned at him, after he placed his backack onto the shelf above their heads.

Koki just snorted something and placed a hat over his face, not giving a shit to his surroundings. Leo hesitated and turned to his brother to say something, but he didn´t manage to utter a word and there was already another voice reaching them from the end of the wagon.

“Jin, this one is free as well!” it was Kame, already standing at the door of the very last coupe.

“Great… So, we´ll be just over there,” Jin announced, assuring his brother they will be fine. “Just call if anything.”

Leo nodded and sat down, while Ryo approached Jin with two train tickets in his hand: “Here, these are yours.”

Jin thanked him and walked after Kame to the end of the train.

 

The train conductor glanced inside their coupe just shortly after they finally moved away from the platform and Jin presented the tickets to him for checking. The man apologized for the delay, asked about their final destination, assured them that they could go to sleep if they wanted, as they would be woken up in Denver and wished them a nice journey. Then he closed the door of their coupe and continued his trip to the next one with the exactly same speech.

Jin pushed his backpack up at the shelf and took off his coat, as the heating in the express was obviously completely all right and the coupe was almost overheated. Kame, who had already placed his stuff on the opposite side, opened the window sooner than Jin could propose it himself. The younger one remained standing there, glancing out, while the cool air filled up the coupe.

“It´s beautiful,” Kame murmured suddenly, Jin barely hearing him through the noise of the train on the rails.

He approached the window as well, standing close to the younger one, but being careful about not touching him and met the view over which Kazuya ogled. The sun was setting in the dark orange sea, the light clouds parting the way of the faint sun beams and creating quite a nice view of that evening.

But more than to the beautiful sunset, Jin´s eyes were attracted to the younger´s profile. Kame closed his eyes for a while, clearly enjoying the air in his face; and the strayed strands of hair soothed his temples. Kazuya sighed inaudibly, and Jin´s heart ran for a short sprint just at that soft sound. That disheveled hair, that face with soft features, the exposed neck, the slim hands resting over the window frame, the chest raising up with each breath… All that time so close to him and simultaneously so far…

Jin just _couldn´t_ bear it anymore. There was a border to what he was able to deal with and that was just crossed. From the sudden impulse, he turned away and walked back to the coupe´s door, staggering on the way a little, at the moment when their wagon passed some turnout. He grabbed the handle and took a deep breath. Then he turned it in the reversed way, so that the lock inside made a sharp clicking sound…

*

When Jin stepped aside without saying anything, Kame thought that the older one might disliked the cold draft, so he closed the window. He turned around pondering if there was anything to say with what he could ease up that awfully heavy atmosphere between them. And then he came to face the burning eyes and his brain literally stopped working for a while.

Kame opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jin locked his lips, kissing them with desperate urgency. The younger one stiffened and almost lost the long-term battle against his desire and repaid Jin with the same. But still fighting against himself he pulled away, pushing both hands against Jin´s chest. Though the older one had no intention of letting him go, and his hands grabbed Kame for the waist, moving him back closer to himself again.

Kazuya took a deep breath, trying to hold onto his self-control, which was exposed to quite a test recently.

“What do you think you´re…” Kame gasped, when the Jin pressed against him hard, with the lips stopping just inches from his own. “…doing?” he finished through a narrow throat.

“Finally something unreasonable…” there was a hoarse reply and the hands pulling the cloth of his shirt off the trousers.

Kame´s determination wavered, once he felt the hard fingers touching the bare skin on his lower back.    

“Jin, damn… This is a _train_!” he emphasized. “There are other people!”

The dark glance full of desire buried into Kazuya´s eyes and made his hands, which were resisting the pressure so far, somewhat weak.

“I locked the door,” Jin assured the younger one, leaning even closer. “I _want you_ ,” he whispered.

The awakening hardness in the other´s trousers was more than a sufficient proof of that and it made Kame´s head spin.

“Right here, right now,” Jin continued heavily. “If I hold back even for a _one more_ minute, I will burst out.”

With Jin´s fingers going lower and soothing the cloth of the trousers between his halves in the greedy movement, Kame tried to grab onto the very last pieces of reason and he objected once again: “But _here_? Jin… Just try to think…”

Hearing that, Jin went motionless: “Is that _really_ what you want me to do?” he asked hoarsely.

The strange anxiety and tension were suffocating Kame so much that he couldn´t catch a proper breath. His body didn´t listen to the brain anymore and his hands slipped up around Jin´s neck.

Jin stared into his eyes defiantly: “So?” his deep voice made the shivers run down Kame´s spine.

“I want… you too,” Kazuya breathed out and kissed the older one hungrily.

 

Once again, the wagon shifted on its iron wheels heavily, but they both found the steady balance in the support of the other, not ever stop kissing. Kame lured the older one´s tongue out for a play, while both Jin´s hands squeezed his butt hard.

When they tore off for a second, Kazuya suddenly pushed himself away from the other´s grip, so roughly that Jin staggered surprised. Kame just passed him towards the door and with two fast movements he pulled the dark curtains over the glass, which protected them from the looks of anyone in the main corridor. Turning back, Kame´s eyes were filled with the same fire as Jin´s…

They met in the middle of the coupe, as both of them moved at the same moment. Jin captured the younger´s lips again, while Kame´s hands headed to the belt of his trousers with greedy certainty. Even before he undid the fastening impatiently, there were already Jin´s hands doing the same with his own belt.

Both staggering a little with the moving machine, they leant over each other, Kame hugging the older one´s form, while Jin kept his hands on his hips, pulling the trousers and also the underwear down, as soon as they stood steady again.

Half-closing his eyes, Kame gasped for a breath, when Jin reached for his shaft, teasing it with an eager caress. Having a lot to deal with own impatient desire, Jin did his best to arouse Kame as high as he already was. Trying to keep his breath and heart under at least some control, he leant forward, while his hand continued soothing the hardening arousal of the younger one.

“How… does it feel?” he whispered the question into his ear.

“Just… continue…” Kazuya replied barely coherently.

There was no need to tell Jin twice, and with the blood throbbing in his veins in the increasing speed, he did as Kame requested. Breathing really heavily now, the younger´s hands headed down again, to finish what they started and a little clumsily he pulled also Jin´s trousers down.

Suppressing a heavy moan, when Jin´s fingers squeezed him harder, Kame gently but at the same time uncompromisingly pushed the older one back and then down, making him sit at the seat. They didn´t interrupt the mutual touching contact for long, as Kazuya kicked his trousers off along with the boots hastily and holding on Jin´s shoulders, and he let his knees rest on the seat alongside Jin´s thighs and then he slowly lowered himself.

When Kazuya´s hard member slightly touched Jin´s in that position, the older guy hold his breath, as the shocking wave of heat flooded his brain. He reached for the younger´s bare hips and then he let just one of his hands to move further, while the goldish look was sinking into his eyes. Kame´s lips parted and let out a heated moan, when Jin´s fingers touched the sacred entrance just gently at first and then pushed harder against it.

Kame clenched Jin´s shoulders so hard it hurt, but the older one didn´t pay any attention to it and kept observing that flushed face in front of him, while teasing Kazuya´s most intimate body part. Just faintly, he realized that he was impatient, but the younger one didn´t seem to mind, when he pushed two fingers inside of him at once. Kame squirmed, moaned again and then leant forward to his face.

“I can´t…” they both spoke at once.

Kazuya´s eyes widened a little, and Jin stiffened for a while. Looking into each other´s eyes, they knew they both meant the same. They couldn´t bear prolonging that tension any longer.

Jin pulled his fingers out and spread both palms at Kazuya´s hips. The younger one moved his body up a little and shifted closer. One of his hands headed down, reaching for Jin´s eagerly standing pride, soothing over it with urgent gentleness, before he aimed it towards his awaiting anus.

Very slowly, Kame sat down, gradually letting Jin deeper inside of his body, while Jin´s fingers buried deep into his skin. Jin felt enthusiastic over feeling that hot tightness again, the one he earned for such a long time. It seemed to Jin that the train started to move much faster, and his head was spinning in the red circles.

Kame stopped in the middle of the way, his body shaking, and with his eyes closed. He was trying to breathe steadily and accustom himself to Jin once again. The older one waited, quite impatiently, watching Kame´s face closely, and forcing his hands to remain gentle and unmoving on the younger´s body, not to push him further before he was ready, even though it was almost impossible.

Then Kazuya breathed out and faster than before he finished the movement, his sacred hole swallowing the whole length of Jin´s eager shaft. That brought Jin´s mind to the incredible height where nothing else mattered. It was almost too much, when the younger one started moving…

For one moment, Jin even thought he would go crazy from how damn awesome that feeling was. It was quite strenuous for the younger one to keep his movement up and down again, but Jin´s hands supported him firmly, as Kazuya was dragging his excitement up to the culmination, which came so suddenly, it really turned Jin´s brain off completely…

 

When Jin was able to finally open his eyes again, with his satisfied member still inside of the beautiful body, he found Kame soothing his arousal with the hasty movements of one of his hands, while the other still squeezed Jin´s shoulder. Amazed and mesmerized, Jin watched Kazuya´s face, when he came to his climax, moaning in pleasure. It was the most alluring expression he had ever seen.

Exhausted, Kame leant over him heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath. When he raised his eyes up again, he found Jin still looking at him, not really able to tear his eyes off.

Then Kame glanced down at the mess his member caused over Jin´s abdomen and shirt and suddenly seemed to be ashamed. He shifted uneasily, pushing himself further, but Jin, immediately noticing his anxious reaction, pressed a palm over Kame´s face and made the younger one look at him.

“Do you really think I care about a damn shirt right now?” he asked him on a hoarse voice.

The smile, which curved Kame´s lips then, was so sweet that Jin just couldn´t help but kiss those lips lovingly.

 

It took quite a while before Kame was able to push himself up on the shaking knees. He still felt dizzy and hot. Barely thinking, he pulled a clean towel out of his bag, handing it over to Jin, so that he could clear the mess from that culmination up a little.

Jin didn´t say anything, when Kame pulled his trousers up again, but then he just threw the towel away to the corner of the opposite seat and dragged him down, right next to him. His dark orbs were not so all-consuming anymore, as they took a little broody expression.

“How do you feel?” Jin asked on a quiet voice.

“Well… I didn´t really expect this…” Kame answered hesitantly, still feeling kind of insecure about the fact that he exposed himself to Jin in that… needy way.

“Neither me…” Jin admitted, smiling a little. “But… Are you all right?”

Kazuya finally repaid the glance of those worried eyes, feeling the wave of warmness flooding him.

“I feel awesome, Jin,” he assured him. “Just a little tired,” he added softly.

He presumed that the grin on the older one´s face anticipated some dirty remark and Jin confirmed it right away: “And here I thought you´re ready for the second round…”

“Jin!” Kame scolded him not very successfully.

“Don´t worry, I will be nice and let you rest,” Jin promised overly serious. “At least for an hour...”

“Jin!!” Kame tried to pretend to be offended, but he failed completely, seeing Jin laughing heartily and with that relief, which he felt inside of himself as well.


	17. Back in the saddles

**H** orace Tabor folded the newspapers down only after the black tea was poured into the cups and his new black female servant retreated to the waiting room in front of his office on the fifth floor of the Brown Palace Hotel. Finally, the cocky chief-editor of the ´Denver Tribune´ gave in to his specific demands and Horace was very satisfied with the published article and announcement related to that annoying gang, not like with the man sitting opposite to him.

Lieutenant Governor leant the elbows on the table and connected his fingers, observing his guest, who stared at the offered hot liquid rather disgusted, as far as he could tell from the man´s expression visible under the layer of bruises and bandages.

“I have to say I expected your services to be more… effective, Mr. Harvey,” Tabor stated calmly, though, if one looked more closely, the shine of unsatisfied anger could have been found in his eyes.

“I almost got them,” the bounty hunter grunted and the tips of his fingers peeking out from the hard gypsum, which protected his broken arm, twitched revealing his annoyance.

“And unfortunately ´ _almost_ ´ is the most important word in your statement, right?” Governor remarked coldly.

“Name me just one person, who managed to get so close to them, Tabor, or to find out that much. I know the _faces_ of six Riders already,” Harvey challenged him stiffly. “They were just lucky. Next time…”

“I don´t care about the way you do things,” Tabor interrupted him. “But I expect the proper results. And the only result, I´ve got from paying you so far, is the fact that the Riders and their filthy leader are travelling freely through the states, surely paying the tickets from _my money_.”

“Maybe if you weren´t so stingy for the costs and hired better men, they wouldn´t have that much for spending,” the hunter replied caustically.

“Well, in case I would be really such a miser, I wouldn´t have hired _you_ , Mr. Harvey, would I?”

The bandaged man made a face, but didn´t react this time.

“Anyway, if you keep going on like this, you might as well share all the precious information of yours with the Marshals to get the job done. But of course, your paycheck would have been significantly lowered with that.”

The eyes of the hunter gained a dangerously cold shine hearing that underestimation of his efforts.

“They will come back,” he stated with certainty. “And that will be their end.”

“How can you be sure about that?” Governor asked haughtily.

“There were only a few of them in that train; I´m pretty sure they just set off for a short trip, whatever the reason, and they´ll be back soon.”

“And you intend to watch over the Union Station every hour of every day not to miss them?” Tabor raised a caustic question.

“No…” Harvey gritted through his teeth, already quite fed up from being mocked by that overly rich bastard. “I´ll wait for them in Leadville.”

“Because…?” Tabor required an additional explanation.

“Your former servant was sending those telegrams to the local post office. It´s not difficult to figure out that Akanishi had set their base there. I will use anything at hand to get to him, you can rely on that.”

“I see,” Tabor leant back into his comfortable armchair. “In that case I want you to contact a certain man in the city. He had already proved himself to be very useful in the past.”

“I´ve told you I don´t want…”

Horace didn´t let Harvey to finish his complaint: “He already is on my payroll list as well, that means no deduction for you.”

“Fine!” the hunter grunted. “Who is it?”

“Mart Duggan, he owns the livery stable under the Stray Horse ridge. I doubt it will be a problem for you to find him.”

“Duggan? That Irish, who was known for having a huge liking in arrests?”

“Exactly that one,” Tabor nodded. “I see you did your homework. Unfortunately, he refused an offer to continue as the city´s Marshal, otherwise he would be practicing his hobby even in these days… I´ll send him a telegram, so he will be already aware of your arrival and provide you with any necessary support.”

“As you wish… You pay, your decision,” Harvey stood up a little stiffly, but kept his back and head straight, when he spoke for the last time. “You´ll get what you want, Tabor. Just a little patience and I´ll bring you Akanishi´s head,” he assured Lieutenant Governor once again.

“I prefer his whole body walking towards the gallows,” Tabor reminded the hunter. “Just one last trifle, Mr. Harvey… We take this month´s salary as settled, right? I paid for your medical expenses, after all…”

***

 

Kame´s sleep was disturbed by the heavy thuds. Before he could even open his eyes, somebody´s hands raised him up from a very comfortable position gently and then let him lie down onto the soft seats again.

The sound of unlocking made the persistent fist stop knocking at the door.

“Finally! Just for what damn reason you guys locked yourself up?” Kame recognized Koki´s voice coming out from the corridor.

“To keep the annoying people out,” Jin responded quite gleefully, as he immediately used a chance to kid the Rider.

“Bah, _annoying_? Next time I can keep everything for myself,” the blonde one snorted.

Kame sat up slowly, trying to shake the blanket of blurry sleepiness off; he definitely lost quite a lot of energy and couldn´t recharge it so quickly. He glanced at Jin standing in the door, protecting him from the Rider´s glance subconsciously like that and felt his face heating up, remembering the hot release. He didn´t consider himself to be especially horny or something, but Jin´s persistent demands just made his brain fly off somewhere, while his body was controlled by the irresistible attraction to the older one.

 They had sex in the train full of people… Kame was never that reckless; he would never thought he could do such a thing. He felt totally embarrassed realizing the perverted nature of what they did, but at the same time… His eyes again wandered over the tall figure of his lover. He gulped down heavily, trying to suppress the raising wave of heat. He was almost ashamed to admit that he would have absolutely no objections against the second round, which Jin had mentioned before…

“We were just resting,” Jin said, sounding a little annoyed now. “What´s up?”

“The conductor said they have some beer in the dining wagon. And I was so nice to think about you being thirsty…” Koki replied caustically. “Will you go with me to grab some?”

Jin´s head turned towards Kame, who just barely managed to snap himself off the enchantment.

“I will keep an eye on our stuff,” he assured him, before Jin could say anything. “It´s fine, just go.”

The older one nodded: “I´ll bring you some as well,” he promised, and left the coupe following Koki.

Kame breathed out leaning over the back rest. It was already completely dark behind the windows, but he couldn´t have been sleeping for long, two or three hours at the most. His eyes glanced away from the window at the towel, which they had used to clean themselves. The cloth was just tossed in the corner of the opposite seat carelessly. Kame stared at it for a while, realizing the numb pain in his inner back part.

 _No wonder, we pretty much rushed it… Not that I would mind that_ … _Ah,_ g _et yourself together a little, Kamenashi!_

Kame stood up and grabbed the towel to hide it inside his backpack. Then he searched for the big bottle of water, which everybody from their group carried all the time. He was still drinking one gulp after another slowly; as his throat was dry as desert, when Jin returned.

The older one pushed the door aside with one hand, keeping a tankard in another.

“Hey, Jin!” a voice in the corridor called, stopping the gunslinger in front of the coupe. “You can both join us here already, Koki doesn´t seem to be so sleepy now!”

Jin shook his head shortly: “It´s ok! I don´t want to bother with moving our stuff again,” he replied to Ryo and slipped inside their coupe sooner than the black-haired Rider could try to persuade him.

“It´s not bad,” Jin announced his evaluation of the beer, giving the tankard to Kame, who handed him the water bottle over instead.

“You should take some non-alcoholic liquids as well,” Kame commented the older one´s grimace and drank a little from the almost full glass of beer. The alcohol was a little warm, but really not bad.

Jin sighed, but didn´t argue with him. He obediently took two big gulps of water and placed the bottle back up to the shelf. Then he settled down in the same corner as before, when Kame was sleeping with head in his lap, and observed the younger one sipping on the beer.

“What?” Kame asked noticing a very suspicious smile at Jin´s lips.

“You look as if somebody ambushed you…” the older one gave him an amused explanation, as he probably commented Kame´s ruffled hair and wrinkled shirt.

“And whose fault is that?” he asked defiantly.

“You didn´t resist much,” Jin replied, with an incredibly satisfied expression.

“Not that you would give me much space for that…”

Jin´s eyes narrowed playfully: “There is more than enough space between you and me right now…” he indicated to the empty seat.

Kame stared at him for a while, before he couldn´t help but smile: “It´s good to see you in the better mood.”

“Likewise,” Jin reacted on a deep voice. “Come here,” he patted the place next to him.

“I wonder if I should not rather stay here…” Kame teased him a little.

“Are you afraid of me, Kazuya?” Jin overacted his surprise.

Kame put the rest of the beer aside at the small frame of the window.

“Only of your perverted side,” he said, but still shifted across the seat closer to Jin. Then he raised his legs up at the seat again, and leant back into the other´s arms, which circled around him firmly.

“I think it´s equally matched to yours,” Jin whispered darkly.

Kazuya chuckled a little: “So now we´re going to argue about whom of us is more perverted?”

“No…” the older one breathed out, one of his hands soothing Kame´s arm slowly. “I don´t think I´m able of any argument right now.”

“That´s good to hear…” Kame sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing in that position, which felt so incredibly warm and safe.

 

Jin enjoyed every second of the time when the weight of the younger´s body was giving itself to him. After that forced denial, it felt incredibly good just to have Kazuya in his arms. With that ruffled hair and still a little dark cheeks, the younger one was adorable.

The hot session, with which they could finally release those suppressed desires, was still mixing up with Jin´s senses a little. He was the one literally forcing Kame to it, but the younger guy was the greedier one in the end. Just when Jin remembered Kazuya taking his eager pride inside of his body willingly, it made his pulse faster again. Their intimate connection felt so amazing… He really missed the younger´s closeness too much to avoid being overly sensitive to it now.

Jin breathed in the scent from the other´s hair, feeling as relaxed as he wasn´t for very long. At that moment, he would not mind at all if their journey lasted even longer…

***

Zack Emerson finished the last strong blow from the bellows, which made the coals in the hearth glow with the dark orange and straightened up, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Skillfully, he placed the next piece of metal in the middle of the heat, when the excited yells from the outside made him turn.

The blacksmith walked out from the smithy room frowning, to find out what was the fuss about. He found all of his four kids gathered around the group of young gunslingers, who just reached the entrance of his house. Two boys and two girls flooded the incomers with curious questions about their trip, obviously overly excited about the fact they were so far away from their home-town and still returned back in just a few days. The Riders were a little surprised by all that attention, but still replied the questions willingly, laughing over the kids´ excitement.

The blacksmith didn´t mind his offspring to be so interested in the outside world, but he really didn´t like the noise they did, dragging the curious looks of the people walking on the street towards the forge building.

“Cool it down, otherwise you´ll be without any lunch today!” he scolded the children, as soon as he approached the cheerful group by the heavy steps.

“Daddy, we just want to know…!”

“Silence!” Emerson cut his son off so roughly that even the smiles of the gunslingers disappeared. “Come inside, guys, will you?” the man turned to his quests.

Noticing the serious expression on the blacksmith´s face, the Riders´ leader just nodded: “Sure, Emerson. Let´s go,” he urged the others to go first, with the kids following them with sulking faces.

Quite relieved to get rid of the burden, the Riders left their backpacks in the corridor, disappearing in the house one after another. Leo with Emerson walked inside as the last ones, with the blacksmith checking the street with the observing look, before he closed the door.

“Anything happened?” Leo asked once Emerson stepped over the threshold and entered the spacious kitchen, where the other youngsters settled around the table. Mrs. Emerson had already welcomed the boys as well, more warmly than her husband and prepared the water and tea at the table.

The blacksmith glanced at his wife first: “Dear… The kids.”

The lady of the house didn´t ask for the reason and just gathered all protesting children, leading them out again. The men remained alone in the suddenly quiet room. All Riders kept looking at the gloomy blacksmith, waiting for his explanation.

“I´m sorry for the harsh welcome, boys,” Emerson said finally. “I´m glad you all made it back. Did Oswald set off safely?”

“Yes, he and his sister should be on the board of the ship to Europe already,” Leo confirmed.

“Good… That´s good…” the blacksmith nodded, obviously not very eager to continue talking.

“Any bad news from Leadville?” Ryo asked impatiently.

“No, nothing I know about, but…” Emerson sighed, and then he simply took the newspapers from the window frame, giving them over to Leo. “Just read it yourself. It´s right on the first page, at the bottom.”

Leo glanced at the said article and his face darkened. The others waited already a little anxiously, until he raised his eyes again. And Jin was pretty sure they would not like what was written in the newspapers; his brother´s face was more than clear about that fact. He squeezed the back rest of the chair, in which Kame was sitting, a little harder, prepared to hear out the bad news.

“Tabor offers a great cash reward to anyone for any information, which would lead to our capture,” Leo summarized the pompous article, which emphasized their crimes and danger that they represented to the good citizens.

“And what about it?” Koki snorted. “We´re used to that.”

“This is different from the official reward announced by the Marshals,” Kame, sitting next to him, noted frowning.

“How comes?” the blonde one wondered.

“What about you tried to _think_ for once?” Ryo asked with a sigh, before he explained: “To gain that money for Leo´s head includes quite a high possibility of being killed. Just the bounty hunters come after that, usually. But if Tabor offers money just for any information, it´s quite an easy income for anybody.”

“Exactly,” Emerson nodded. “And you can never know who´s looking… That´s why I chased you inside right away.”

“He basically made all people reading this our possible enemy…” Ryo continued. “Do you still think it´s something what we´re used to?”

“Not exactly,” Koki murmured quite gloomily.

“Leo…” the blacksmith took a deep breath. “I don´t want to sound ungrateful or anything, I´m on your side, you know that, but…”

“Don´t worry, Emerson,” the Riders´ leader interrupted the worried man. “I understand your concern. We don´t want to drag you into our problems. We will leave today.”

“What?!” Koki exclaimed. “Oh, come on… I´m half-dead, we need some rest…” but the blonde one shut his mouth at the second the dark glance of his boss focused at him. “Ok, ok, I get it…”

“You can stay for the lunch and I´ll prepare your horses meanwhile. They are all good and well,” the sheepish blacksmith assured them.

“Thanks, we appreciate it,” Leo nodded.

*

 

“Oh, yes, dear, I missed you too…” Kame kept soothing the white mare lovingly, talking to her. Ukushi was pressing her head against his touches eagerly, her warm eyes half closed. They both ignored the strange noise from the aisle at that moment, enjoying their reunion. Only when the pitch black stallion danced around the stable with his head high, both Kame and Ukushi approached the wooden partition to check on the unusual happenings.

“You think you can win this, huh?” the provocative challenge resonated in the stalls.

The older Akanishi was standing in the middle of the long aisle with the bridle and reins in his hands, his black hat from some reason forgotten on the ground covered with straw. The black horse turned in the end of stables gracefully and shook his head, knocking with the front horseshoe over the ground.

Except other horses, they were alone in the huge stables. Leo, Ryo and Koki remained hidden in the blacksmith´s house, once again flooded with the questions from the curious kinds, while the two of them offered to prepare all horses for their departure, overtaking the task from over-worried Emerson.

“Come on! Bring it on!” Jin called over again, swinging with the leather bridle.

Kuro set off swiftly and trot towards his tamer. In the last second, the horse changed the direction and instead to the right he headed to the young man´s right hand and the thrown bridle missed the target. The stallion finished his race to the other end of the aisle and all noble turned again, towards upset Jin.

Kame watched the scene amused, while feeding Ukushi with the apples he brought. He wondered just how Kuro managed to escape from his stable, into which he saw Jin going before.

“Fine, show me what you´ve got, you stubborn animal!”

Another trot, another attempt for the dodge, but this time Jin was ready and managed to throw the reins over the horse´s neck.

“Got you!” he announced victoriously.

Kuro stood still as frozen, only his ears flinching a little.

“You should remember I´m the one in charge here,” Jin approached to the animal strictly. “I was gone for just a few days and you already forgot your ma-“

The young gunslinger didn´t manage to finish the sentence, as Kuro suddenly twitched his big head, dragging the other end of the bridle off his hands. The pressure of the movement made Jin stagger and tripping over he collapsed on his ass, while Kuro once again demonstrated the animal dance around Ukushi´s stable, raising all his legs high up. The mare neighed shortly and Kame would swear it sounded amused.

Jin remained sitting on the ground and watched his horse, sulking in silence.

“Are you all right?” Kazuya asked, walking out of the stable.

Jin just huffed out something unrecognizable and Kuro on the other side of the aisle snorted mockingly. Kame, hopelessly hiding the amused smile, approached proud Kuro and without any worries he took and raised the end of bridle tottering between his front legs up.

To Jin´s amazement, Kuro let Kame threw the reins over his head and tighten the bridle up properly. And when the younger one headed towards the empty stable again, the black stallion followed him as if he was walking on some boardwalk.

“You traitor,” Jin jumped up on his feet, hissing towards the animal insulted.

Kuro literally grinned, showing all his strong teeth to his official master and snorted again, walking around Jin right into the stable, as Kame kept it open for him.

“This is incredible!” Jin breathed out in pure disbelief, leaning over the partition as soon as Kame closed it. “He´s mocking me! Where did he learn it? From Ukushi?”

“No way,” Kame objected immediately. “My mare is a very decent animal. I´d say he caught up something from his master,” he assumed teasingly.

“Nonsense! They replaced him while we were gone,” Jin pouted upset, staring at the black stallion, who repaid his glance rather calmly. “You´re not Kuro,” he accused the animal.

“Jin…” Kame raised his hand and placing it at Jin´s face; he gently made him look at him. “This is _definitely_ your horse,” he assured him, leant toward the older one and placed a short kiss on those pouting lips.

Jin´s expression changed within a second, his frowning melting into nowhere.

“I think I´ll rather not ask how you can be so sure,” he murmured, grabbing the younger´s coat and dragging him closer. “I could be offended again.”

“Don´t ask then,” Kame agreed and savored on that tense moment before Jin connected the lips with his again.

They were not exactly on the safe place, so he didn´t think that Jin would keep their connection for long, but feeling his tongue probing out, searching for his companion, he came to meet him eagerly. Their kiss deepened and became more passionate, when Jin pressed Kame against the wooden partition, while Kame´s hands circled around the older one´s body.

Kame loved the shivers, which awoke inside of his body every time Jin kissed him like that. When the older one drew back, he kept his eyes closed, keeping on that feeling for as long as was possible. But then he noticed that even though Jin still held him in his embrace, he was kind of stiffened. He didn´t notice that anyone would come in through the creaking stalls´ entrance, so he opened his eyes confused to find Jin looking at something behind him motionlessly.

“Jin?” Kame soothed his chest slowly. “What is it?”

“He is _staring_ at us…” the older one announced stiffly.

“Who?” he asked surprised and turned his head quickly.

There was Kuro standing and his dark orbs repaid his master´s reproachful glance. Kame blinked a few times, before he realized that Jin really meant the horse and turned back to him not even trying to suppress an amused chuckle.

“You really mind _him_?”

“It´s not funny… Just check out his expression….” Jin insisted on his complaint.

Kame smiled rather sweetly and drew himself near the older one again, whispering: “Then let´s see if I can make you forget about the _expressions_ of your horse…”

He could; Jin didn´t even notice when Kuro ostentatiously turned away from them and rather started paying attention to the fresh portion of oat.

*

 

Leo was staring out of the window thoughtfully, barely listening to Koki´s and Ryo´s flattering of Mrs. Emerson´s cooking. Instead of cooling things down, as he thought would happen before their departure, everything got more complicated. He knew Tabor would not be an easy opponent to deal with and he wasn´t used to scram in front of the first obstacle, but he really disliked dragging others into this mess.

At each corner could always be found some smart ass, which would be able to spill something about the suspicious gathering at the blacksmith´s place. Emerson was a good man and already paid his debt back to them, so Leo didn´t want to bother him longer than necessary. Despite the fact he was tired as well and wasn´t surprised by Koki´s complaints about his decision to move on back to Leadville immediately.

The young leader had a full view over the front yard, partially at the forge and also at the exit from the stalls. Like that he could see two volunteers for the horses-related chores coming back.

Kame appeared outside the door as the first. He carried a black hat in his hand, brushing the straws and some dirt off it. Jin walked out right behind him, closing the door and saying something what Leo could not hear. Kame turned and placed the hat at Leo´s brother´s head, intentionally pulling it very low, smiling over Jin´s surprised expression. Amused Kame set off first, while Jin altered the hat, and then he caught up with him swiftly.

Leo watched them walking back to the house, both keeping their hands in the pockets and talking about something. He already realized those two were really close, closer than he would expect to be possible, as he didn´t think Jin would have opened to anyone else except Yamashita so much. From some reason, seeing them in that good mood made Leo think about Jane. He missed her reasonable attitude, her determined eyes and her devoted kisses… One more reason to rush back to Leadville…

He saw how Jin moved suddenly and pushed his hat at Kame´s head instead, before he rushed forward gleefully, leaving Kame behind blinded.

Leo frowned a little – they were somewhat overly cheerful considering the circumstances, really.

***

 

It was quite difficult to hold Kuro back, as the black stallion was really eager to have some proper movement after being closed in the stables for so long. Jin had to keep him on a very short leash, while they were leaving the busy streets of Denver. Leo emphasized to everyone that they would represent an absolutely calm departure, not to draw any attention, so they kept on the peaceful trot until the very last house. Only then Jin released the strong lead, about which he knew Kuro disliked it pretty much, and let him flee forward in his own rhythm, overtaking Ryo and his brother.

Feeling the horse´s excitement dragged Jin´s mood high up too, so he let the animal enjoy the free ride and he dared to stop him only at the nearest crossroad, turning Kuro back to the rest of their group, which proceeded to that place much faster as well.

“Impatient as always, Bro,” Leo commented, seeming to be more relaxed as well, when he approached the stomping Kuro first.

“Not me this time,” Jin objected. “Discuss that with my horse.”

“Hey, Akanishi!” approaching Koki called already from the distance. “What do you say on a little contest?!”

“A race? Why not?” Jin grinned confidently.

“Guys… Do you intend to override the animals right from the start?” Ryo asked in a didactic tone.

“Are you too afraid to participate as well?” Koki slashed back at him immediately.

The shine of militancy appeared in the older Rider´s eyes: “You think so? Fine. You´ll regret this insult, blonde one.”

“Count me in, too,” Kame, who just reached them, announced. Jin appreciated his decision with a bright smile.

“You´re sure, handsome?” Koki observed the peaceful white mare skeptically. “Don´t you want to be a referee?”

Kame´s eyes narrowed: “You obviously don´t know my dear,” he patted the mare across her neck. “I will not miss this at all.”

“I will be your referee, kids,” Leo stated surprisingly calm, as if he expected nothing else than the just settled childish contest, already leading his horse further to the west. “I will pick some wide spot… Just give me ten minutes.”

 

The waiting for the start of their spontaneous race didn´t go without Koki´s remarks implying that Ryo was just acting to cover he was a coward, neither without Jin placing a bet on that the blonde Rider would end up as the last one and without Ryo marking them both as two cakewalkers, who should be careful not to break their bones. Kame just listened to their arguments exceedingly calmly, soothing Ukushi by very slow movements of his right hand.

To line up so that everyone was satisfied took them quite long, so when they finally set off, loudly cheering their animals, it was fifteen minutes after Leo left them.

After that long travelling in the trains, it felt damn refreshing to be able to move so fast in the open air, to become one with the animal between their legs, focusing fully on keeping the proper balance with the wind swirling around them. It felt awesomely free. Jin almost forgot there was a race to participate in, but he was quickly reminded of that by the sturdy horse hurtling in front of him on the road, being cheered up by his rider – Koki.

Jin leant forward a little more, smirking - the blonde Rider forced his animal to give its best too soon and he was sure that would mean his loss. Then he noticed Ryo riding almost side by side with him, as they both chased after the blonde one. Kame was nowhere in Jin´s sight, so he had to fall behind.

Jin was patient and didn´t let Ryo to override him, while he kept looking for the best place to do that to the rider in the lead… He didn´t have to wait for long, the road was approaching another crossroad, getting wider. Jin firmly clenched his thighs alongside Kuro´s body patting him twice across the left side of his neck. The stallion shook his head, just for a moment he slowed his pace down and then he raced forward so fast that Ryo could just stare at that sudden speed wide-eyed.

 

Kame let Ukushi keep tailing Ryo´s horse, waiting for Jin´s move, for which he was sure the older one was preparing for. When the black stallion stomped around staring Koki gracefully, he let himself almost lie down, adjusting his body with the mare´s. Relying mostly on the strength of his thighs, he whispered into her ear. The mare snorted softly and immediately following the instruction she set off to chase right after the black stallion.

When their race dived into the sparse forest, they had to ride one after another – Jin first, Koki with some distance as the second, the white mare the third and obviously amazed Ryo as the fourth.

The landscape changed suddenly a little and the path could be seen to lead between the trees making a wide arch above the small ditch. The black stallion barely slowed down and rushed across the curve within a few seconds. Koki followed the way more slowly and also Ryo made his animal to reduce its speed a little.

Only Kame did something totally unexpected. His mare stopped and then turned. The youngest contestant led her right down from the slope. Koki and Ryo´s jaws dropped noticing that move, and Jin turned his head to the side surprised as well, when the white mare bounced from the bottom of the ditch and jumped up. Her hooves buried deep into the path just a moment after Kuro passed the same place.

Kame straightened up in the saddle and with a cheerful whoop he let Ukushi pick up her speed again, following Jin, who couldn´t help but glance over his back to make sure it was not only a hallucination and Kame really did that risky move.

They rode off the forest closely behind, while both Koki and Ryo was trying hard to shorten the widening space between. There was a huge oak under the gentle slope from which they were riding down now and both Jin and Kame noticed Leo leaning over its stem at the same moment.

Jin looked back again, to check on how far Kame was, but to his surprise he didn´t find the younger one behind. Hearing a cheerful neigh, his head twitched back forward to find the white mare overriding them from the other side. Kame´s eyes were shining, giving Jin a defiant look. The mare managed to get in front of the black stallion for the length of half of its body, than for the whole.

Jin´s blood was rushing with adrenaline, his hands clenching the bridle too hard and strange joy filling him up from head to toes. Laughing out aloud, he incited Kuro once again, feeling the animal´s wish to give out its best as well. Copying Kame´s lowered position in the saddle a little, he hold onto his dear horse firmly and focused on the full coordination with Kuro´s movements.

Both Kuro and Ukushi were racing on so fast they left Ryo´s and Koki´s horses far behind. They were getting closer to the oak with each second. Jin dared to glance to the side, when he noticed that Kuro caught up on the same level with the mare. Kame looked at him as well, smiling brightly, his face darkened and the hair flying all around his excited face. They both looked away at the same moment again and incited their galloping animal friends to overcome the last few meters.

 

Leo forgot about being bored from the long waiting as soon as the galloping riders popped up from the forest. He quickly recognized his brother and to his surprise Kame as the second one. They were both approaching faster than he would have expected and he watched their final race with the pure admiration of both animals´ efforts.

The racing riders passed his referee spot so promptly that his own stallion jumped up alarmed. Quite amazed Leo watched just gradually slowing Jin and Kame, hearing them both laughing. He almost neglected to pay attention to the last two arrivals – Ryo and Koki behind him.

 

Jin couldn´t control that laughing; he just felt the need to let those cheerful emotions out, so he laughed, feeling incredibly relaxed. Kame probably felt in a similar way, as his eyes were shining so brightly that it made Jin´s pulse even faster than it already was and the cheerful chuckles were coming out of his mouth as well.

They finally stopped, feeling the hard breathing of their animals and trying to catch their own as well. Jin let his eyes sinking into Kame´s, feeling so light… He couldn´t even remember when was the last time they had some fun like that.

“That was… awesome,” Jin said, still gasping a little.

Kame released the strong hold of Ukushi´s reins and soothing her gratefully he nodded: “Damn it was. Congratulations, Jin. It was a great race.”

“Let´s do it again then!” Jin laughed, already turning Kuro back.

“I´m all in for the second round, just we can save that for later, what do you think?” Kame asked innocently, as they slowly approached the big oak again.

Jin repaid his look with a significant smile, the playful fires deep in his orbs: “Sure…”

“That was impressive, guys,” Ryo welcomed them under the tree.

“Quite a show,” Leo appreciated their performance too, while Koki seemed quite stunned.

“Thank you, thank you, Kuro thanks too,” Jin was almost beaming with satisfaction. “And you owe me ten dollars, Koki,” he reminded the blonde Rider gleefully.

“No worry, I pay my debts,” Koki snorted. “And… I have to say it too – quite impressive,” he approached closer to Ukushi. “I apologize for underestimating you,” he bowed a little, while the others watched him amused.

The mare stared at the young man in front of her for a while, before she moved her noble head up and down.

“Apology accepted,” Kame assured the Rider smiling.

“So, if you enjoyed yourselves enough, may we continue on our way?” Leo asked mockingly.

“Oh, sure, we can!” Ryo reacted.

“We´re in quite a rush, right?” Koki joined in too.

“Little Bro, we all know why all that rush. You don´t have to put on that serious face,” Jin was immediately ganged up against Leo too.

“You just can´t wait to see your lovely girlfriend,” Ryo continued.

Their leader frowned and tried to say something, but Koki didn´t let him.

“Don´t worry, we are nice and we won´t let you be frustrated from the lack of certainly very nice moments with Jane for long.”

“Then I´m so lucky to have you, right?” Leo snorted.

Laughing heartily, they all led their horses away from the oak, heading towards the mountains in a much calmer pace.


	18. Bad news

**J** ane sat down slowly, subconsciously choosing a chair, which was usually used by Leo. She stared at the small boy standing on the other side of the table in shocked disbelief. The whole situation went from bad to worse so fast that she was not able to react calmly anymore.

“When did they take them away?” she asked on a quiet voice, trying not to reveal her uneasiness in front of the child.

“Yesterday morning,” the eight-year-old son of the former telegrapher replied a little fearfully, probably nervous from the impressive presence of the huge man, whose figure covered the door behind him – Benny. “I was there to ask about Papa; they don´t wanna let him go yet. My Mum said to come here and tell you.”

“You did well,” Jane assured him. “Very well. Did they mention where they headed to?”

The boy shook his head: “I don´t know, but... I heard them talking about the mines,” he replied uncertainly.

“I so knew it!” Todd, pacing across the room behind Jane´s back, snapped at nobody in particular.

The little messenger flinched upon hearing the gunman´s sharp tone, before he focused on the brunette again.

“My Mum´s sad, but she said you´ll help,” the boy urged on pleadingly. “You will help us, madam, right? Please, help my Papa,” he begged, hardly suppressed tears gathering in his big eyes.

“I´m sure your father will be released soon,” Jane tried to sound convincing at least for the boy´s ears, ignoring Todd´s doubtful snort.

“Really?” the little one requested further assurance.

Jane stood up again and approached the boy, somehow managing to smile at him.

“They accused him of some nonsense; the Sheriff cannot keep him in jail for long, you´ll see,” she stated firmly and ruffled the small one´s hair. “Go now, and say hello to your mother.”

“I will! Thank you, madam!”

Benny opened the door for the boy with his usual stony expression, but under a closer look great pity could be found in the way he watched his departure. The adults were alone again.

Todd hit the window sill with his fist, gritting some vulgarism through his teeth. Jane turned to the other two gunmen sitting at the table, finding the worried and guilty faces of Patrick and Carl. Nick didn´t move from his spot, as he kept leaning on the wall and lit up a cigarette as soon as the door was closed. Also Benny remained standing at his place at the door, big and silent as ever. None of the Riders seemed to be willing to talk, and Jane was quite sure it would be the same with Ian and Sherman, who hadn´t come back from shopping yet.

It was strange, but Jane felt as if she should be the one taking lead in this situation; to assure the others they would figure something out. But no matter how determined and stubborn she was able to be, at that moment she really missed the strong will and resolution of Cullen, or natural leadership of Leo. After all, she was just a woman; would the others listen to her even if she tried to find a way out from that mess?

She clenched the closest chair with both hands, forcefully suppressing the shaking, which threatened to take control over her body.

“We need to find out to which mine they took them,” she said in a much firmer voice than she had expected from herself.

“To The Cursed One, that´s for sure,” Todd reacted upset.

“We don´t know that for sure,” Jane objected, still surprisingly calm. “We need to check it out.”

“And what then?” Patrick asked harshly, burying his eyes into hers. “If they´re there, what are we going to do?”

One part of her got angry at him, as well as at the others, for their reluctance to take the responsibility to decide and just threw it at her. But her other part felt endlessly helpless. Jane really didn´t know what they should do… Well, there was something on her mind, but the question was whether they were able to do it without Leo, and without Cullen.

She took a deep breath: “I think that at least we should…” and then she stopped in the middle of sentence, noticing the escalating noise from behind the door. Many heavy footsteps sounded from the taproom and also excited loud voices. All of those were getting closer and closer, until they could be almost recognized…

Benny took a firm stance beside the door, waiting, prepared for any intruder. All tense and in maybe naive expectation, Jane turned to face them too, just at the moment it burst open inside the room.

The dark-brown eyes immediately found hers and glittered with joy. At that very moment, Jane forgot the difficult circumstances and her lips spread in a relieved smile. The young man with dark stubble all over his face, clothed in dusty dirty clothes and with his face red from the whipping wind crossed the distance between them within a second, chasing away all her fears and doubts with an eager kiss.

Jane didn´t even notice the amused cheering calls or laughing, which suddenly filled the room. She completely gave herself in to those hot lips and firm hug, which she had missed so much. Her Leo was back.

*

 

Ryo and Koki leant on each other´s shoulder and kept chuckling over the loving welcome. Jin observed his brother´s excitement over the reunion with his girlfriend very understandingly. He glanced at the last person entering the back room – Kame – and gave him a meaningful smile. The younger one repaid his look with a similar expression playing on his lips.

But quite soon, the four newcomers picked up on the heavy atmosphere, unlike Leo, who wasn´t finished greeting his lover yet. Their amusement disappeared right away, when they looked around the others, and saw their dark faces. Even though the rest of the Riders was obviously glad about their arrival as well.

Unfortunately, also Leo´s mood darkened in the end, once he stepped away from Jane, brushing the long hair off her face. He quickly noticed the strange silence then. The pretty brunette´s expression was rather sad, when she hugged him firmly; looking for the support she needed so much.

“What happened?” Leo asked tensely, already aware of that while they were gone, something went very wrong.

*

 

“Officially, Tabor owns one silver mine in the area – the biggest one, of course. But the truth is that he collects profits from the _other_ _two_ currently active mines as well. There´s more than a good reason for him to be the richest man in Colorado.”

Most of the people present in the back room of the tavern were already aware of the circumstances related to Horace Tabor´s property, but Patrick made a short summary of it anyway. Not only for Jin and Kame, but also for Koki, who had been apart from the gang for a long time and needed to catch up with the updates as well.

“Several mines are closed, as either the silver vein ran out, or the conditions didn´t allow for the works to continue. Among them, there´s one, which had always been kind of problematic – it´s rich, the second biggest one in this area according to the official findings, but the area around is very unstable and no matter how careful the workers were, each progress deeper in the mine cost many of their lives.”

“Many disasters gave it a name – The Cursed One,” his buddy Carl completed the information in a dark tone. “It remained opened for something over a year, before the silver-diggers organized a strike and not even a doubling of their pay made them go back there.”

“It was really no wonder,” Patrick continued again. “There´s even a cemetery close by, as it was too difficult to drag all those bodies back here or to Denver. The workers asked the Sheriff to go there, and he ordered the mine to be closed. Tabor had his share in that mine, and he could force his way no matter the Sheriff´s decision, but I guess he wasn´t eager to attract the attention of those Human Rights defenders. He must represent the government properly, as he´s the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado after all.”

“Not that it would have prevented him from pursuing his own selfish goals,” Carl noted disgusted, before Patrick explained the rest.

“So, officially, Tabor gave up on the mine. But, as we´d found out while you were gone, the opposite was the truth. He kept it open in secret, and solved the issue with the missing workers in his own way. He gathered the people sitting in jail, who were either waiting for their punishment to go through or for the sentence. They were taken to that mine instead. And they´re forced to work there, which is basically the same as being sentenced to death.”

“Not to mention that the slavery is long forbidden, even if it comes to the criminals,” his companion joined in with another remark.

“How did you find out about this?” Leo asked strictly, raising the first question since the moment those two started talking.

“One of the workers ran off – Peter from Denver. He was our connection with the arms dealer, if you remember…” Nick, still smoking next to the window, replied. “He appeared here a week ago, spilled everything he knew to us and then he scrammed to Wyoming. There was a too hot ground for him here, he said.”

“But how comes that Sheriffs or Marshals let those prisoners be taken away?” Jin asked frowning. “Isn´t there some kind of official procedure for that?”

“Well, since the orders for prisoner´s relocation are signed by Lieutenant Governor himself, there are no inconvenient questions about that,” Patrick reacted caustically. “According to the papers, the prisoners are taken away to the court. They never reach the destination though.”

“That´s quite devious…” Ryo murmured.

“Yes, and Tabor covered it up pretty nicely; we had no idea something like this is going on under our noses, until Peter appeared. And now… Now they also took Cullen and Jack away…” Carl stated gloomily.

“And those two ended up in jail _how exactly_?” their leader asked in a cold voice.

Nobody was very eager to reply to that question.

“They wanted to surprise you,” Jane said quietly in the end.

“I want no excuses, but explanations, please,” Leo reacted surprisingly harshly.

Patrick leant forward, looking straight at his leader: “It´s about that secret casino in Tabor Opera House, you know what place I´m talking about?”

“Of course, Jack works there,” Leo nodded. “What does it have to do with their arrest?”

“Jack had a tip – it was an exceptionally good week for the business and there was a huge amount of cash at hand, much less protected than in the bank,” Carl explained carefully. “Well, and since we spent all our savings so far, we thought we should use that opportunity to cover the hole, you know?”

“ _We_?” Leo repeated stiffly.

“It was Jack´s idea, but we all agreed!” the young gunman reacted defensively. “Jane, say something. We agreed upon that, right?”

The brunette sighed a little, nodding: “We did… Except Cullen.”

“You didn´t tell him about it?” the Riders´ leader asked in a dangerous tone.

“Hmm, well…” Carl seemed to have a problem with talking, as he shifted in his chair nervously. “You know, we wanted to surprise him as well…”

“More like you knew he wouldn´t have agreed,” Leo reacted coldly and both Carl and Patrick cowered under his stare.

“We thought it would be nice to surprise you when you come back…” Nick dared to cut in the conversation. “Nobody liked being without our hard earned money… And moreover, we helped out Peter too.”

Leo kept frowning darkly, saying nothing, which felt even more dangerous than if he was shouting.

“So me, Patrick and Jack got inside, while Todd was on the watch…” Carl continued the narration hesitantly.

The last mentioned Rider took up the word too: “Cullen appeared just shortly after we started the whole thing and forced me to lead him inside to the others.”

“How did he find out about the robbery?” Jin wondered.

“I told him in the end,” Jane admitted, with a somewhat sad expression. “I was worried and I thought the boys could use some additional help. Cullen wanted to stop them though. He said it would have caused too many useless troubles…”

“Everything would have gone just fine, only if… We didn´t know… Damn…” Patrick fell silent, so Carl spoke instead.

“Jack didn´t know there was a completely new security system, which triggered a trap. Once we opened the safe, iron bars had covered the exit. Cullen was already inside with us at that time. He managed to push it up, so that I and Patrick and Todd slipped away. But before he and Jack could get out, there was already the Sheriff with his men, summoned by some awfully noisy alarm. We wanted to fight back, but… Cullen ordered us to run, so…”

“So you listened to him that time…” Leo finished, with the dark expression on his face.

“Yes,” Carl lowered his head.

“Better late than never, right,” Koki made a caustic remark.

The room sank in keen silence. The ashamed Riders waited for their leader to speak, but Leo kept his mouth shut.

A short knock cut the air and Benny opened the door for the old bartender, who brought them some water and beer. He left the room without a word. Nobody reached for the drink, everybody was motionlessly waiting.

“Is it known they belong to the Riders?” Ryo asked in the end, interrupting the silence.

“No,” Patrick shook his head. “As far as we know, they didn´t say a thing. Cullen didn´t even have the black scarf with him, though Jack did.”

“Still, I think they figured it out,” Carl growled. “Why else would they have been taken away so quickly?”

“Just great – no money, and two men captured,” Koki snorted. “What a welcome.”

“Shut up,” Patrick, who was obviously the most shaken one by the event, snapped.

Neither Jin nor Kame commented the situation, but the faces of both showed quite a concern.

“What are we going to do, Leo?” Ryo asked from his chair opposite to the leader.

The younger Akanishi kept staring at the table for a long moment.

“A few days… I leave you for just a few days and come back into such a mess,” his voice froze all the Riders in their seats. “What from the ´keep the low profile´ didn´t get to you?” he asked, even though he obviously didn´t expect the response.

Ryo was the only one, who dared react on that: “We can give them the benefit of good intentions…” he said, trying to soothe the sharp edge of Leo´s statement.

Leo stared at the black-haired one for a while, before he leant an elbow over the table, letting his head rest in the palm. In just another silent pause, Jane stood up and dragged one tankard of beer in front of him first, before serving the drinks for the others too. When she sat down next to Leo again, he blindly reached towards her, squeezing her hand shortly.

“Thanks,” he said.

Jane just smiled a little and shifted closer to him. As if it was a sign, the Riders reached for their beers, gulping down their bitter guilt and worries.

“Scold us whatever you like, Leo. We deserve it,” Patrick stated then, gaining some courage.

“We´re sorry, really,” Todd joined in. “It would have been too nice if it had worked out, right?”

“But we cannot let Cullen and Jack there, can we?” Patrick continued, while Carl just kept looking at the leader tensely.

Leo stopped drinking and put the tankard back at the table more roughly than was necessary.

“Of course we won´t let them there, what do you think?!” he raised his voice so suddenly, that a half of the people in the room flinched.

Jin was waiting for a statement like that from the very beginning and just kept enjoying the cool liquid, while Kame frowned even more than before.

“I do _not_ leave my fellows behind! No matter the stupidity they did!” Leo seemed to be justly upset.

“Rescue mission then!” Koki exclaimed, bumping the table excited.

Ryo slapped him over his blonde head with the newspapers, which were lying on the table so far.

“What are you so cheerful about, idiot?”

Koki stabbed his companion with not a very nice glance, but didn´t say anything.

“I need every bit of information you managed to gather about that mine,” Leo stated, ignoring the childish behavior.

“And some maps would be useful as well,” Jin joined his brother, not even thinking about it.

“We´ll figure out a plan and get them out of there,” Leo stated decisively. “And if anyone just hints anything different, we can discuss it out on the street...”

*

 

It was quite late at night, but all the Riders were still gathered in the brightly lit room of the Slabtown´s Tavern, standing or sitting in the close circle around the table, which was covered with newspapers and maps.

“As we don´t know how many guards can be there, we should all go,” Patrick just proposed fiercely.

“No,” Leo denied firmly. “It would have been totally useless to expose all of us, if something went wrong. If possible, we´ll do it inconspicuously, so no more than six of us will go, eight at the most.”

“Then me and Patrick are going,” Carl stated right away. “We want to make it up for this mess.”

Leo repaid his firm look for a while, before he nodded: “All right, I agree. I want also Ryo with me…” he moved his eyes towards the black-haired one, who grinned at him.

“Your wish is my command!”

“Thanks… As for the rest…” Leo made a short pause. “What about you two?”

The attention of all followed the leader´s glance at the left side of the table, where Jin was leaning over sitting Kame, so that he could see the map of Leadville under the dim light of the kerosene lamps.

“No need to ask about that, little Bro,” the older Akanishi reacted without hesitation, but his brother was not focused on him…

“Kame?” Leo waited until the younger one raised his eyes and repaid his glance. “Will you help us also this time?” he asked in a carefully neutral tone.

The gap between the question and answer was short, but still it was there. Jin lowered his head to look at Kame too now, but he was not being taken in consideration at all.

“Sure,” Kame nodded slowly then.

There was something more going on during the exchange of their glances except those few words, the strange atmosphere was felt in the air, but nobody dared to mention it or ask some additional questions.

“Great!” Leo closed up the selection of the rescue mission members, breaking the tension suddenly. “Benny, Todd, Ian, Sherman, Koki – I need you to stay here with Jane, as a backup. Keep your eyes open, we cannot afford any more mistakes. Nick – you´ll act as a messenger if anything goes wrong. Everything clear?”

Nodding or murmuring in agreement was a satisfying response to Leo.

“Fine, any questions?”

“What about the telegrapher Flow?” surprisingly, Jane´s voice was heard. “It´s because of us he ended up in jail, for helping us. We should help him out too now.”

“What do you mean?” Leo asked confused. “Why is he in jail? What for?”

“They accused him of abusing his power and locked him up. It was clearly a frame-up. It seems that Tabor figured it would be better to get rid of the man, who used to deliver us certain telegrams…” Carl explained the situation.

Everybody fell silent; a little ashamed they forgot there was one more person to care about.

“Did he talk?” Ryo asked, frowning thoughtfully.

“Do you think we would be here, if he did?” Jane snapped at him a little. “He keeps his mouth shut and that´s why they keep him in jail. There is no proof against him, but they will not let him go unless he cooperates.”

Leo was looking at his girlfriend rather surprised, probably curious about what caused her fierce reaction to the matter.

“His boy was here,” Benny spoke suddenly, for the first time during the whole evening. “He came to plead for help. And he brought us the news about Cullen and Jack being taken to the mines.”

“Ah, I see…” Leo breathed out, somehow more understanding now.

“We could get him out by force…” Ian suggested.

“What would be the point in that?” Kame cut in suddenly, dragging a few quite hostile stares to himself.

“Something on your mind?” Leo asked slowly.

“If you got him out like this, he would be chased as a fugitive. He´d have to hide and run and never come back to his family. Is that what you call help?”

Jin totally agreed, but still he was not sure if it was a good idea to stir in the matter with the Riders´ friend like that. The upset expressions disappeared from the gunmen´s faces around though, and turned into quite sheepish.

“I bet you have a better idea,” Ryo reckoned, smirking a little.

“Well, I have,” Kame admitted. “But it will cost you something…”

“What do you mean exactly?” Leo leant forward.

“If they want information from him, let him give them some. For example – are you willing to give up on this tavern?”

The Riders´ leader thought for a while, before he nodded: “I see what you mean.”

“And can you please explain that to us - the slower ones, too?” Koki requested.

“We let Flow talk about the place to where he delivered those telegrams – here,” Ryo took a word haughtily. “He doesn´t need to be specific, he can say he just let the messages in front of the door or something. So that even our dear old bartender could talk out of it. And we will be long gone by that time, of course. Is that what you had on mind?” he glanced at Kame.

“More or less, yes. They might let him go for cooperation and at the same time it would not hurt you much.”

“He just needs to be very convincing about not knowing anything else…” Ryo noted.

“I can explain it to him personally,” Jane said suddenly. “Do not even try…” she continued before Leo could object anything. “I have my own ways; the Sheriff will let me go in.”

“All right, then, I´ll talk to the old man… But it must wait; I want to do it _after_ we get Cullen and Jack out. Good idea, Kame,” Leo appreciated in the end. “Now, everybody get some sleep. We´re going to leave early, as we already have supplies, no need to stick around.”

*

 

After Leo sent everybody to rest, the tavern gradually grew quieter.

Jane helped out the old bartender to clean up after the gang first, which was not so difficult, as they didn´t eat much and nobody was in the mood for drinking either. After she parted with the man, she headed upstairs, to the top floor of the building, where she and Leo were assigned with a small room.

The still worried brunette walked into the bedroom with the quiet steps, finding her lover standing at the open window, smoking. Her eyebrows wrinkled in disapproval, but she knew better than to start complaining. Jane closed the door and approached the Riders´ leader. Placing hands over both of his shoulders gently, she felt how tense Leo was. She leant even closer and embraced him from behind, waiting until his firm body relaxed a little finally.

Leo put the cigarette down over the window sill and started soothing her hands slowly, still not saying anything.

“I´m sorry I didn´t talk them out of that stupid idea,” Jane couldn´t bear it anymore and broke the silence.

“It´s not your fault,” he assured her. “I know them, Jane. Once they want to do something, it´s almost impossible to discourage them from it. And they´re too hasty,” Leo sighed a little defeated.

“But still, I should have...” his girlfriend tried to apologize again.

“Stop,” Leo squeezed her arm firmly. “There´s no need to blame anyone now. We´ll get both of them out of that mine.”

Jane breathed in the scent of his hair, glad that Leo was really not upset with her.

“I know you will,” she whispered.

Leo turned and took the brunette into his arms, his dark eyes scanning her face in the dim light of the small kerosene lamp.

“I´m relieved at least you and the others are all right,” he stated seriously.

Jane raised one of her hands and let her fingers run across the stubble on his face.

“Definitely not more relieved than I´m about you all being back,” she reacted. “Everything went fine?”

“It depends…” Leo evaluated not very positively. “We haven´t heard from Oswald yet.”

“I´m sure the voyage to Europe with his sister will go just fine...” Jane sensed there was some problem hidden in Leo´s answer, but she didn´t want to push him to talk about it, not at that moment. But there was something else she intended to ask about. “And what about your brother and Kame? How did they fit in?”

“Quite well, I´d say...” her lover reacted shrugging.

“Do you already trust them that much?” Jane kept asking, not satisfied with the brief reply. “Since you want them to go along to the mine?”

The expression on Leo´s face turned more serious: “No, I don´t,” he replied to her surprise. “I feel there´s a lot of what they´re not telling.”

“Then why do you take them with you now?” she wondered.

“They wouldn´t give us in, that much I´m sure of, but... I need to know how far they´re willing to go.”

So that was the case, now Jane understood Leo´s intentions. She didn´t need to worry, her stubborn boyfriend knew exactly what he was doing, and his loyalty to the Riders wouldn´t waver, no matter what the intentions of his brother were.

“Anyway, let´s not talk about them now...” Leo squeezed her around the waist with the flickering fires in his eyes. “I´ve missed you,” he stated in a tone, which brought warm shivers into her stomach.

Jane smiled, locking her arms around his neck: “Prove it then,” she challenged him.

Leo didn´t need any further encouragement. His hands slipped down, taking Jane under her knees and pulling her up. She circled her thighs around his form, as Leo carried her to their bed. And when he put her down, and his hands started wandering all over her body, which yearned after his touch so much, it made Jane forget all her worries completely.

*

 

Kame could not help but notice the careful glances Jin kept sending his way as they gathered their stuff and headed to the spacious bedroom downstairs, which was comfortable enough for six people. They took it together with Ryo, Koki, Patrick and Carl, while the rest of the Riders occupied the room next to theirs.

He could clearly imagine what went through Jin´s head – he also remembered their heated discussion about trying not to involve in the Riders´ matters much. Helping out the arrested gunmen to escape was not exactly fitting for that resolution. But the whole situation appeared in front of them so suddenly, they had absolutely no time to discuss it and figure out how to deal with it. Once again they were dragged forward by the flow of events.

 _Neither of us asked for this…_ Kame thought gloomily, as he watched Jin going out, probably to the bathroom.

As he didn´t want Jin to eat himself up with some stupid ideas for the whole night, he also slipped out of the bedroom, which was humming with excited chatting of the others, and waited for older one´s return in the corridor. It didn´t take long before he spotted his figure approaching and stepped out from the dark corner, just as Jin passed by, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him to the shadow.

“Being ambushed by you, that I like,” surprised Jin grinned at him, leaning over the wall next to Kame´s head with one hand.

“Do you think about anything _not-_ perverted recently?” the younger one teased him quietly and looked out from behind the other´s form, to check if they were really alone.

“Not much,” Jin admitted carelessly. “You´re too distractive.”

“Do not put all the blame for your lack of self-control on me,” Kame objected.

“Why not?” the older one asked whispering and leant closer, targeted on Kazuya´s lips. “I´m not lying…”

Kame avoided his attempt to kiss him, though it took him a lot of self-discipline: “Jin, this is not a place for this…” he urged. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

Jin sighed a little and retreated to a safer distance: “I bet that I won´t like the topic…”

“About that mission to the mines…” Kame started, while soothing Jin´s arm slowly, to ease the effect of his rejection.

“You think we shouldn´t go with them, right?” Jin asked very quietly, before Kame could finish, his dark eyes glistering in the light of the far lantern on the other side of the corridor.

“Well, I don´t like the idea, that´s true, but I wanted to tell you I´m all right with that. I will not scold you for volunteering us,” he stated teasingly.

“Really?” Jin asked, still a little uncertain. “You said we shouldn´t…”

“There´s no way back now,” Kame interrupted. “And Tabor is the one breaking the law in this case, anyway. I will be glad if we´re able to help them…”

Finally, a smile brightened in the dark: “I´m pleased you take it this way.”

“Yeah, me too…” the younger one reacted softly. “There´s just one thing… I think that Leo is testing us.”

“Well…” Jin hesitated a little. “Even if he does, it´s not so surprising, right? But he trusts us; otherwise he wouldn´t involve us at all.”

“But…” Kame wanted to mention that Leo´s trust was not a problem in this case, as the important thing was how much they were able to involve in all that mess.

“Didn´t you want me not to worry too much?” Jin cut in quickly. “So, just keep it this way for now, all right? Once we get Esler and Jack out, there will be time for discussions.”

Kame thought it was not such a good idea to let it go and wait for how the things would work out, but still… He had no heart to stir in the matter further at the moment, so he just nodded.

“Let´s go back before they notice we´re missing…” he proposed, but Jin´s hands prevented him from moving and pressed him against the wall instead.

This time, Kame didn´t manage to avoid the lips, which captured his hungrily. Any resistance from his side was immediately forgotten under the sweet pressure. When the older one retreated, Kame felt his knees were kind of weak.

“Did you really think I would let you go without a good night kiss?” Jin asked on a tone, which hid so much more than a mere kissing, that Kame had to suppress the desire to drag Jin somewhere out, instead of going into the room among the others.

“Not really,” he chuckled foolishly happy.

They needed to be more careful; somebody might have noticed them anytime, but Kame couldn´t be troubled by that all the time. So, he kissed Jin back, pressing against his warm body eagerly. He felt as if he could never get enough of Jin holding him in his arms. Just getting so close to him, attaching to his limbs, chest, and legs, made him feel so good and hot. And he was obviously not alone in that, as Jin sighed deeply into their kiss, trying to get even closer to the younger one.

The creak of the door´s hinges made both of them almost jump off their skins. They totally forgot that the others were still awake too. Holding their breaths, they remained motionless in the corner, until the steps of whoever came out of the bedroom faded somewhere outside.

“We can´t do this,” Kame whispered, desperately escaping from so comfortable embrace. “Not here.”

Naturally, Jin wasn´t content with that but he didn´t try to stop the younger one this time, and he just followed him inside.

 


	19. Alliances

**T** he pen created a faint creaking noise as the man´s hand holding it firmly wrote the precise numbers in the accounting book. The detailed records included incomes and expenses of the quarry, though they were a bit altered, of course. The real book, which mentioned _all_ of their profits, was safely locked under the false bottom of the table´s only drawer and nobody, except its owner, knew where to find the key for this hideout. It was a good precaution in case that some sneaky officer from the government remembered to fulfil his duties from time to time and arrived for the inspection.

The manager of the sandstone quarry in Laporte was almost finished with his work for that day, when the hard stomping was heard on the stairs and shortly after that the door of his office was flung wide open, making way for a furious gunman. The stack of banknotes flew through the air and spread all over the table, half-covering the accounting book, not allowing the manager to finish the last calculations.

“This is _not_ enough!” Grenet literally spat the words out.

Cameron put the pen aside slowly and raised his eyes to the upset gunslinger. He gave the ruddy face a long look; it seemed to him that during the past week, Math Grenet behaved more explosively than usually. He was always quick-tempered, but such a lack of control over own emotions was unusual even for the former first gunman of Raynold Karnaka. And Cameron despised such people.

Anyway, it made him wonder what caused that constant anger and he was quite sure it was the failure of their search party - they were not able to locate Kamenashi yet. Cameron was not satisfied with that himself, but to express it so openly was deeply below his level. Not to mention there was other business to deal with. That youngster would show up again in the end, and the former servant had learned how to wait for something patiently a long time ago.

“Your share is still the same,” Cameron informed the grumpy man stiffly. “You know very well, that our profit wasn´t so big this time.”

“And how am I supposed to pay the men from _that_?” Grenet continued complaining, and pointed at the notes with his finger.

“There´s more than enough for that. In case you skip some visits in brothels, of course,” Cameron observed the reddening face of his companion unmoved. He didn´t care about how Grenet handled his cash; the gunman could pay to Danny double for what the boy was willing to do for him, or to burn the money in the fireplace, for all he cared. Unless it caused troubles with their subordinates or quarry workers, Cameron was willing to accept that.

The angry gunman was fuming for a while, before he sat down on the chair opposite to him and lit up a cigarette. Cameron watched his action rather disgustedly and carefully closed the book to avoid its damage from the hot ashes.

“We should replace more cargos then,” Grenet hissed his oh-so-much-clever proposal.

Cameron suppressed an annoyed sigh; it wasn´t the first time they discussed the topic.

“Not possible. If we want to avoid Tabor realizing something strange is happening with his deliveries to Wyoming, we need to keep the number low. We´ve already talked about this.”

“Then what about some deduction from the mint master´s share?” his companion insisted.

Cameron almost smirked in a gleeful reaction: “Try to suggest that to him, I doubt that he would agree.”

More precisely, he was pretty sure that the mentioned man would have sent his couple of crazy dogs after Grenet, if the gunman dared to come up with such a proposal. It was more than risky to break the law related to the precious metals processing, to cheat the officers and create more coins in secret for personal profit. Such crime was heavily punished and they were lucky the master was willing to cooperate, for quite a prize of course.

Moreover, Cameron was well-aware that Horace Tabor would find out there was something wrong sooner or later. Lieutenant Governor received too much of profit from various silver deliveries to notice right away, but they had to consider that it wouldn´t last forever. And that very moment they would have to end their little fiddle, when they replaced the carts loaded with raw silver in small nuggets or chips with the ones full of sandstone. It was a difficult and not very cheap exchange, as they had to deal with a couple of mine workers, bribe two soldiers, and create fake documents for both carriages to avoid those stupid taxes the government raised on anything they could think of.

The whole project was Cameron´s idea, Grenet was just dragged along with it and he carried out his orders well. Even though the gunman was harder and harder to control, it was nothing what Cameron couldn´t handle so far.

Grenet was smoking wordlessly for a while, so Cameron used the time to gather the thrown-away cash and shift it over the table back towards the gunman.

“Stop overreacting and manage your expenses more carefully, it would do no harm,” he stated scornfully.

“It´s not so surprising I have more expenses than you – I actually live, Cam.”

“Do what you want, just pay off everyone necessary in the process.”

“Fine!” Grenet snapped and snatched the notes. “But I wanna go on a little trip and I need more for that.”

“A trip?” Cameron repeated, sensing some useless troubles in that idea. “To where? There´s no need to check on the situation in Denver. It´s not convenient for your famous face to appear there.”

“No, not to Denver,” Grenet snorted. “We need to get rid of those stinky red skins finally; I´ll accompany the expedition to the mountains.”

“We´ve assigned more than enough of our men for that.”

“Our _men_ are a bunch of useless idiots, who aren´t able to find one pretty brat!”

And there he went with Kamenashi issue again; Cameron knew he was right in guessing the reason of Grenet´s bad mood.

“It´s not our primary task now,” he reacted calmly.

“I´m quite surprised to hear that from you,” the gunman gritted trough his teeth. “I had a feeling it was your only goal in life.”

“I will get to dealing with Kamenashi, and also Akanishi, eventually,” Cameron stated self-confidently. “Till that time we need to strengthen our position, not to weaken it. So sit on your ass here and learn some patience.”

“ _You_ don´t tell me what to do!” Grenet snapped.

“I _do_ and you will listen. No matter how hot-headed you are, Grenet, you´re not stupid and you know I´m right.”

The silent match of their glances ended up with the gunman smirking awfully.

“You piss me off, but you´ve got the point, Cam,” Grenet got up on his feet, shifting the banknotes into his pocket. “Anyway, in the mountains there´s not so many people who could see me, right? And I want to have that transaction in control, selling some _workers_ is quite a sensitive matter, nah?”

“All right…” Cameron agreed reluctantly. “But do not set off before Friday and do not take all the Sioux at once, it´s too risky. If you come across the unit of soldiers or something…”

“Fine, I get it!” Grenet snapped annoyed. “As if I wanted to bother myself with so many dirty Indians at once… Well, now you can continue playing with your boring numbers. Since I´m stuck here for a couple of more days, I need to find Danny and get some fun. Otherwise, I´ll bite myself off from boredom…” the gunman finished his speech and slammed the door behind himself.

***

 

The dawn barely managed to chase the darkest part of the night away and the back yard of the Slabtown´s Tavern was already lively with voices and neighing of horses. The Riders, all dressed in long warm coats, the hats pushed deep into their faces, were trying hard to warm themselves up in the frosty morning, which welcomed them with the tiny sparkles of snow flying in the air. After the unexpectedly warm days, the winter obviously wanted to show them, that it didn´t say its last word yet.

Ryo, Patrick and Carl were stalling next to their horses, almost running on the spot, while Jin and Kame were calculatingly hiding behind Kuro, sharing one huge mug of the younger´s special hot tea. Jin even had an unusually good mood, considering his usual flow of complaints over the weather. This time he seemed to be more concerned with how much rum Kame took with him on their journey.

Finally, the Riders´ leader appeared in the back yard too, already fully armed, as he got up before everybody else and prepared quite a load of weapons, ammunition and food for their mission. Now everybody was gathered; they let the rest of the gang sleep, as they were supposed to leave the city later.

“Everyone ready?” Leo´s voice cut through the freezing air, as he pulled the scarf protecting his face down and threw two heavy bags into Ryo´s and Carl´s arms. “Let´s get moving then!”

He was the first one prepared to leave the yard, but the appreciative whistle of Koki made him turn back his horse again. The surprised fuss among the Riders was caused by Jane.

The tall brunette was fully dressed and armed, looking very impressive in the long coat and hat, her long hair free, falling over the shoulders. The unbuttoned coat revealed her long legs in the tight leather trousers and high boots, beige shirt and dark vest. She looked so attractive that Leo almost forgot the woman was not supposed to be there; she should have stayed in the warm bed, where he had left her early in the morning.

Jane passed them, not giving much attention to their adoring looks and entered the stalls, just to leave them right away, leading her horse out.

“What do you think you´re doing?” Leo finally remembered not to be pleased to see his girlfriend.

Jane mounted her stallion gracefully first, before she repaid his sharp glance.

“I´m going with you, obviously,” she replied calmly.

“I said I want you to stay…” Leo reacted decisively.

“I don´t think I have to take any _orders_ from you, love,” the brunette objected nonchalantly, which made the others turn their faces away, trying to unsuccessfully hide their laughter. “As you like to remind me, I´m _not_ a Black Rider, so you´re _not_ my leader.”

“Fine! I want you to stay here as your boyfriend!” Leo snapped, already quite upset, because he had no upper hand in this morning argument.

“That´s not going to work and you know that,” Jane led her horse closer and kept staring at him defiantly. “It´s not only _your_ responsibility, Leo. I should have done something, because I was here, not you. Even if it would have been only telling Cullen about the robbery in advance. So, I´m going, period.”

The couple was engulfed in fierce staring match, while the others waited amused by the clear fact that Leo was losing this fight.

“You said eight members at the top,” Jin noted, already sitting in the saddle as well. “With us, Jane is the number seven. There´s still one more spot free then,” he reminded his brother gleefully.

Leo stabbed him with his eyes: “Thanks for your brotherly support, Jin.”

“Always at your service, Bro,” the older Akanishi grinned.

“Shall we get moving then, or what?” Ryo urged them. “One more minute and I´ll freeze to the bones over here.”

The young leader sighed, and with a defeated expression he nodded: “Yeah… It´s useless to waste time here. Let´s go…”

***

 

The streets of Leadville were as lively as ever, no matter the frosty weather. Riding his already a little tired horse, Ralph Harvey watched the citizens hurrying about their business. He kept trying to catch a sight of their faces, which were half-covered with scarves and shawls and hats, to protect them from the freeze.

Harvey pulled his own scarf as high as he could himself, but not because he would feel cold. He didn´t want to risk being noticed by some member of the Riders. As much as he knew their faces now, they knew his. So he carefully studied one passing person after another, looking for a glimpse of familiar features, but during the whole ride through the main street he had no luck yet.

His companion, riding in front of him, didn´t seem to mind the cold at all, as he kept his coat unbuttoned and no hat covered his dark hair with a few strands of grey. Well, Mart Duggan was a pretty hot-blooded personality, as Harvey had already experienced after he reached his livery stable located in the outskirts of Leadville.

It would be an understatement to say that the former Sheriff was not happy about his arrival. It took some time before the man stopped sending all Hell to break loose on that ´annoying rich bastard´, by whom, as Harvey assumed, he meant Tabor, finally packed some of his stuff up and set off to the city center with him.

Frankly, Harvey didn´t give a shit about what Duggan thought or said about Lieutenant Governor; he just considered being paid well-enough to follow Horace´s orders and that meant cooperation with that explosive, after-horse-spore-stinking gunman.

They dismounted the horses right in front of the veranda of Sheriff´s Office. Duggan observed the signboard with a star, looking rather upset, muttering something inaudible. Their arrival didn´t pass unnoticed, as the muscular, around twenty-five-year-old deputy came out from the door and focused quite a suspicious stare on both of them.

“Mr. Duggan,” he noted not very happily. “What an unexpected visit.”

“I´d rather be cutting the trees down right now than be here, believe me, boy,” the man spat scornfully. “I´ve had enough of the others´ incompetence for the rest of my life.”

Harvey ignored the impolite welcome and turned towards the frowning deputy himself: “Is Sheriff in there?”

“Yes,” the younger man nodded reluctantly, while his palm rested on the gun-stock of one of his two colts. “But who are you, Mister?”

“That doesn´t concern you, out of our way,” Duggan ascended the stairs to the veranda first and shoved the surprised deputy aside. “And better stay here,” he recommended him harshly.

“What do you think you...!”

Ignoring the lawman´s objection, Duggan already disappeared inside the building. Harvey didn´t want to bother with the youngster longer than necessary, so he held him back for a shoulder, when the deputy wanted to follow Duggan.

“Mr. Tabor sent us, deputy. Just stay here on the watch, all right?” Harvey asked the young man, though he let it sound more like an order.

Not even waiting for confirmation, he let the baffled man outside and closed the door.

*

 

Kevin Flow was rushing towards the Sheriff´s office, as fast as his short legs allowed him, tootling a melody of his favorite song. His mother used to sing it to him before sleep, when he was younger. The little boy was cheerful and didn´t mind even the rude swearing he received, when he ran across the street right in front of one of those beautiful rich carriages. He just grabbed the package with the lunch in his hands more firmly and kept hopping towards the building with a huge star.

Kevin believed that very soon he would not have to bring any lunches to the prison and that his Papa would be back at their table in the kitchen. The beautiful lady said that and he trusted her. Those bandits, who were her friends, were scary, but they helped them out during last winter as they promised to, so they were not hungry despite his mother was not able to work. So they would definitely help this time too.

The boy slowed down at the sight of his destination. The sheriff was sometimes moody and he disliked naughty children, so Kevin already knew it was better to behave, otherwise the lunch would be eaten by Sheriff and not by his sad Papa.

He approached the veranda and looked up to the other man with a star – Sheriff´s deputy, who stopped pacing across the space in front of the door, and pierced the boy with his eyes.

“What do you want?!” the deputy man snapped.

“I brought the meal to my father, Mister,” Kevin replied bravely, determined to get inside. He knew they gave no food to his father behind those ugly bars and he was certainly hungry.

“You can´t go there now, so get lost,” the man denied immediately.

Kevin didn´t know why the deputy was so upset, but he didn´t want to give up so easily.

“It won´t take long, Mister, I must give it to my Papa before it gets cold…”

The gunman snorted something vulgar and grabbed the boy for his collar.

“I said get out!” the deputy shifted with Kevin, just when the door of the office opened.

“Wait!” that strict cold voice made both the deputy and little Kevin freeze.

The deputy turned, dragging the boy with him, so that they faced the dark-haired man with evil eyes. Kevin shivered, when those eyes focused on him.

“Is that the Flow´s boy?” that strange man asked.

“Yes,” the deputy gritted through his teeth. Kevin thought that the younger man definitely didn´t like that stranger.

“Perfect,” the man´s smile made Kevin wish he would have come later. “Come here, boy. You wanna see your father, right?”

Kevin gulped down his fear and nodded.

“Let him go, deputy. And keep the watch,” the man ordered and not waiting for Kevin to start moving, he grasped him for both narrow shoulders and shoved with him inside.

Kevin didn´t even manage to blink and he was already standing in the sheriff´s office, in the room which he had already known. There was Sheriff, sitting behind his table and also one more stranger, measuring him with an intense glance.

“What do you want to do, Mart?” the Sheriff stood up from his chair, when the man dragged Kevin to the back, right towards the cells.

“What do you think?” the man, whom the older man called Mart, snorted caustically. “Something you were not able to do for all this time – to make Flow talk.”

Sheriff Watson frowned in disagreement: “I cannot let you do this, Mart. There´s a law in this building and…”

“Either shut up and let me do my job or get out,” Duggan interrupted the complaints, not even glancing back at the Sheriff.

The lawman reached for his revolver, but that second stranger was faster and he had already pulled the gun out, letting it aim on the ground for the moment.

Kevin was really, really scared then. He didn´t understand what was going on, but he somehow knew it would have been better if his father stayed hungry on that day…

*

 

The current Sheriff of Leadville, Ed Watson, who replaced Duggan on the position, was similarly glad about the unexpected guests as his deputy. But Harvey also noticed that the man with a star still had some respect towards his predecessor, and the name Tabor had its effect as well. Though it didn´t prevent Watson from sending the displeased stares towards Harvey´s direction, once Duggan revealed his companion to be a bounty hunter.

No Sheriff was happy about the presence of hunters in their town. They considered it to be an insult to their abilities, when some wandering gunslinger solved the issues with local criminals instead, not mentioning the reward money, which would have stayed in the state budget otherwise, meaning more cash for them.

And now, he was even more displeased about Mart´s idea…

“Be smart, Sheriff and do not complicate the situation,” Harvey stated calmly, but there was a hidden danger in his tone. “We´re going after the criminals. Any means necessary should be used to get them, don´t you agree?”

“Fine!” the Sheriff snorted then. “But I stay here and if you cross the line…!”

“I´m sure Flow will talk,” Harvey assumed. “It´s his only son, you said.”

Ed Watson swore harshly and went back to his table, snatching the cigarettes from the surface. Harvey moved on towards the cell-room, which was separated from the office just by the wall without a door, and he kept his revolver out and ready to remind Sheriff not to try anything stupid.

Walking towards the back cell in the building, he almost regretted his idea though. He was the one asking Sheriff if there was anyone visiting Flow, who was accused from helping out the Riders, in the prison and it was his idea to use the person against him. But Flow´s son was really just a kid and more than cute on the top of it. And Duggan seemed to be capable of anything just to make Flow spill anything he knew.

But since it seemed Flow really had some idea about at least one of the Riders´ locations it was definitely worth of trying. Harvey just hoped the man would talk soon, before he would have to stop Duggan from doing something really nasty to the boy. He himself was able of doing quite many things to get his deserved reward, but torturing children was definitely not among them…

***

 

Jane assumed Leo would not be very happy about her involvement in the rescue mission, but that didn´t held her back in relative safety of the tavern. Her lover wanted to keep her away from any danger, but when she felt she should do something, nobody could stop her. She was more stubborn in that than him.

It was not like this before they got more intimate; Leo was not so overprotective of her. Jane joined the Riders because she was fed up of sitting on her ass and doing nothing about the ugly acts of one awful man from Denver, who thought that everybody should lick his boots for a couple of coins. Who thought he could do anything without consequences. Who indirectly killed his own daughter and her best friend and cousin.

She cooperated with the gang on setting Leo free and she ran off with them. It was a dangerous life all the time, but she felt like she was doing something significant by being with them. Leo accepted her as a member of the Riders, though they kept reminding her she wasn´t one, because they didn´t assign that title to women. But that changed gradually, when they started dating. Though he never put it that way, he kept her away from most of the actions just to keep her safe.

Leo knew his girlfriend was too proud to handle his overprotectiveness, but he couldn´t help it. He had already lost too many precious people in his life. And being honest to herself, Jane had to admit she was the same. She was damn afraid that their luck would run out one day and something happened to her dearest. But she felt better by his side than anywhere else, no matter what they did, and she believed Leo felt the same way.

In any case, she was relieved only when Leo finally broke his offended silence and took her along to the first survey of their target. That fear was still there, in both of them, but they were in all of this together from the very start, and that made her feel better than she would expect.

Like that, Jane was able to smile despite the ugly place and anxious time, when she felt Leo´s hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, as he wanted to draw her attention. She nodded, when her lover pointed at the high cliff above their watching spot, which was more convenient for observation of the black hole and its surroundings, but hardly comfortable for any man.

She squeezed his fingers shortly, glad that Leo trusted her skills, and retreated from the edge of the low forest, to sneak behind the trees towards the cliff.

*

 

Jin had no idea if everything what Carl and Patrick told them about the disasters and misfortunes related to the mining, or even rumors about the whispering voices in the dark holes, were true, but the mine definitely seemed to be cursed and fitted its dark title.

The entrance to the deep pit was located near the dry riverbed in the wide valley, surrounded by the poor remains of the forest. Most of the trees within a wide range were chopped down for the carts, fires and simple sheds for the tools or barracks, creating a sad clearing around the campsite of the mine workers. In the irregular spacing, there were also the piles of dark stones and rocks all the way along the road, which was compacted hard to the other end of the valley. The mine itself was a huge pitch black hole surrounded by wooden pillars, which supported the tunnel leading deep down into the ground. Those were the results of three long years of hard rock mining.

Despite that the whole place was crawling with movements of the workers and the air resonated with orders and swearing of the guards, adding themselves to cacophony of the squealing wheels under the heavy loads and the clangs of many hammers, it gave such a dark and gloomy impression, the young gunslinger felt the creeps on his skin. The sharp wind crowned the whole picture, as it whizzed along the bare glades through the whole camp and then up, towards the mountains.

Jin shivered under the next chilly blow. He breathed out on his stiffed hands, but didn´t let his eyes wander away from the campsite, trying to remember as many details as possible from the arrangement of all buildings, movement of the guards and also from the visible part of the mining process, which mostly included dragging of the useless rubble out of the hole.

His brother Leo, attached to the ground, covered by some poor bushes, right next to him, was focused on the same, he just didn´t cower  from of the cold so much, more like he ignored it and his eyes ran from one small visible figure to another. Even from the distance of their spying spot it was distinguishable that most of the workers had their legs connected with the heavy chains. Moreover, there were quite a lot of guardsmen, some with rifles in their hands, some with whips.

Obviously, at least the statement about the mine using slavery was based on reality.

“Crazy bastards,” Carl lying a little farther, whispered disgusted. “Like this, they will kill a half of the prisoners before the spring comes.”

Jin couldn´t disagree; most of the figures were moving slowly, staggering under their heavy load, and stumbling over the chains. This ´work´ was a straight way to Hell.

Only a soft shifting of some tiny stones told Jin someone approached him from behind, and that was at the moment when the sneaking young man was already within Jin´s reach. He tore his eyes off from the dark view and glanced back, when a hand touched his leg. It still amazed him how quietly Kame could move when he wanted.

“The guard is approaching; we´ve got two minutes to retreat,” the younger one whispered so that also Leo and Carl could hear. His voice made the youngest of them flinch in surprise, as Carl didn´t hear him coming at all.

Leo turned towards the member of his group, whom he left on the watch behind them from that very reason, Kame had just mentioned.

“Jane is up there, on that cliff,” the Riders´ leader said in a very quiet voice.

“I´ll get her,” Kame reacted before Leo could say anything else and in that same amazing sneaky way he retreated to the deeper shadow of the trees.

“Where did he learn that?” Carl grunted as they crawled back too, though with more noise. “I almost jumped out of my skin…”

“The Indians,” Jin informed him. “And they are even more incredible, believe me.”

“Those red fellows can be useful from time to time, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jin confirmed, suddenly remembering a certain discussion at the evening campfire, which made him lower his head, so that the others didn´t notice his disturbed expression. “They can…”

*

 

Once the mining site was out of their sight, it felt somehow easier to breathe. The heavy air caused by the ore processing activities, which were necessary for separating the silver from the rest of useless dirt, surrounding the whole area was so expressive that they had to walk for a good mile to shake that smell off.

On the northern side of the mountain, they reached one of the caves piercing it, which they chose for their cover. Nick, Ryo and Patrick, who were guarding their horses, welcomed them with revolvers in their hands, hiding them only after they made sure about who they were.

“Did you see them?” Patrick asked hopefully, his face darkening when the three of them shook their heads.

“There´s too many of them down there, all dirty and chained up, hard to say who is who,” Carl murmured, reaching for the bottle of water.

“We managed to spot them though,” the woman´s voice cut in, as Jane, followed by Kame, entered the cave. Just in time, Jin had already thought of going back to meet them.

“Really?” Leo turned to her immediately. “How were they?”

Jane shook her head sadly: “Beaten up. In chains.”

“But alive,” Leo frowned.

“Definitely,” Kame confirmed on a deep tone, making Leo focus on him.

“What did you see?”

“Esler attacked one of the guards, when he kept beating that other one – Jack. From what we managed to see, he almost strangled the man with his chains. It seemed they took him away to somewhere, to lock him up,” Kame finished the information and with a gloomy expression he glanced at Jin, who basically mirrored his face.

Leo sighed and suppressed the intention to face-palm himself. Of course, why not to make the situation even more complicated…

*

 

Silver ore mining was a damn difficult work in general. Digging in the hard rock, searching for any flash of the silver vein or chips in the dark ore, dragging all that stony dirty mess up from the deep stole to the surface, where it had to be destroyed to the tiny pieces and checked carefully…

Forcing the people to do all of it with their legs chained was heartlessly cruel. Not to mention they were poorly clothed and who knew what other harsh treatment except hits and whipping they received. No matter that the workers were the criminals – it was not right to treat them that way. Just during that short minute when Kame could observe the mining site, he saw two diggers to collapse and not get up even after a few kicks by the yelling guards.

The sight of the Cursed Mine made Kame feel sick. He had already heard what insanities people were able to do for gold or silver, but he hadn´t seen it by his own eyes so far. He watched Leo drawing a simple map at the wall of the cave, pondering about their possibilities.

Maybe, that they could stop what was going on in that mine, by setting all prisoners free, but getting two of the Riders out of there was already damn risky. To relate their attempt to the whole mine could have gone wrong too easily; and it would certainly attract more troubles on their heads.

So even though Kame didn´t like the mine of slaves even a bit, he knew it was wiser to ignore his doubts about what would have been really right to do. Those workers were criminals after all…

“The entrance, sheds for the workers, the cottage of the guards. Main assembles of the ore, the loading of silver to the carts,” Leo named the dark spots at the wall one after another, pointing at them with the half-burnt stick. “Probably the supply warehouse, the corral for horses,” he continued, and added a long line in the middle. “The main road. Do you remember anything else?” he turned to the silently watching Riders, Jane, his brother and Kame.

“There was one more building, hidden behind the guards´ house, probably the manager´s office,” Jane said.

“The line of slag heaps on the north side of the main rode,” Jin noted. “Could be used as a cover.”

“Sewage pits,” Carl joined in, while Leo kept drawing more notes at the wall. “Right behind those ugly sheds.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“I´m not sure about it, but there was some strange alcove nearby the mine entrance,” Kame said, not even stopping observing the simple map. “I noticed it because there were two guards, it seemed strange.”

“You mean they kept something hidden there?” Ryo asked.

“Yes, but I don´t know what it could be.”

“Those who don´t want to work?” Carl suggested darkly.

“The detention for prisoners seemed to be somewhere else,” Jane reminded. “They took Cullen away from the mine´s entrance.”

“The armory?” Jin pondered.

“That would be too easily accessible for the workers,” Leo objected.

“Maybe dynamite then?”

Everybody glanced at Kame, who shrugged: “You said they use it for deepening the holes in the rock, so…”

“That would be it!” Ryo supported the younger´s idea. “They need to keep it somewhere dry and cold.”

“That´s right,” also Leo nodded. “We might use that later, good point, Kame. Now, the guards…”

“Twenty,” Carl reacted the first.

“Twenty-two with those in front of the alcove,” Kame assumed.

“Plus those, who are inside the stole,” Jin added. “And probably also in that office, which Jane mentioned before.”

Leo nodded: “Let´s count with thirty guarding men then.”

“That´s a lot,” Ryo murmured gloomily. “And they might be changing shifts.”

“Yeah, a direct ambush is out of the question. We have to do it quietly,” their leader assumed, observing the drawing for a long time, which was filled with silence. “So, any perfect ideas for how the hell are we going to get them out of there, guys?”


	20. Rescue

**J** ack sat down on the wobbly bench carefully, holding a tinny plate in one hand and crooked spoon in the other. He observed his food ration for that day feeling rather disgusted. It was a small pile of horse shit, which the local cook dared to call the ´beans with beef´, despite the fact it included about as much of meat as the vegetable soup of his dear late mother.

While eating, he had to focus on not vomiting that foulness up, and also on not moving much; he didn´t want that pain he had to bear for hours to get worse. At least the blood finally stopped dripping from his wounds. The young Rider didn´t allow himself to complain about his situation though; Esler was in worse condition than him. The older man was also beaten up, and even tied up, without any food, or its imitation whatsoever. And it was all Jack´s fault.

He knew it would have been wiser to do everything they were told, waiting for a chance to get out, but he just couldn´t handle the haughty attitude of those bastards who supervised them. The guards treated them worse than the dust under their boots. A pretty collection of heartless men gathered in that gloomy mine.

Jack didn´t expect Cullen to defend him when he was whipped for being too cheeky. If the older man hadn´t involved himself though, that guarding maniac would have probably flayed his skin. But Jack really hated that Cullen had to pay for his actions. Not only they were arrested; being taken away to the Cursed mine was even worse. Moreover, he didn´t think that the others would let it go easily. It was very likely that they had already figured out what happened to them… And what if the rest of Riders got in troubles because of their greedy idea with that Opera House, too?

The unconfessed Rider finished his so-called dinner hastily, as he saw that some guards were approaching to chase the workers into their “dormitory” for the night, to switch with the night shift. He got up slowly, giving a long stare towards the stake behind the manager´s office, where a man´s figure could be seen, with his hands tied. And suddenly, Jack knew what he had to do.

They couldn´t just rot in that dirty place forever and it was better to try to escape, while they had any strength and resolve left. Working in the mines was awfully exhausting and already after a few days Jack felt like a used rag. He was aware of many guarding eyes, but in the night it was easier to escape their attention than during the day. Not to mention that Cullen was already outside of their usual detention.

As quickly as his chains allowed him, Jack headed towards the ugly barracks, to be there among the first ones. Inside, the workers slowly gathered in three rows, to exchange the places with the night shift´s men, who had frightfully dark circles under their eyes. Hidden behind their line, Jack turned his bloody shirt inside out and tied a dirty scarf around his fair-haired head, just in case some guard would like to check them more closely.

It didn´t take much effort to persuade one comrade, an elderly man, who barely stood on his feet, to rest for the night, while Jack took his place. The old man was so grateful for the offer that his dry eyes flooded with tears. Suppressing the guilt from using that person for his own escape, Jack followed the already moving line of workers back outside. He took a deep breath under the dark open sky and squeezed the spoon, which he kept hidden, instead of giving it back to the kitchen before. He patiently stood in the line for working tools, chasing any doubts away.

 _Tonight is the night_ , Jack thought. _We either escape, or die trying. And I won´t mind taking a few of those sons of bitches with us…_

*

_The age already softens me like butter,_ Cullen criticized himself, while trying to ignore the growing pins and needles in his arms and shoulders.

Any other time he would have let that stupid youngster eat up whatever he had prepared for himself. But no, this time he had to get involved and ended up being punished instead of Jack. Who would say that the sturdy guard would take one hit to his jaw so personally?

Cullen shifted his weight from the tip of one foot to another, even though he knew it was pretty much useless. They didn´t leave him much comfort, on the other hand they didn´t bother guarding him any strictly either.

They tied him up pretty firmly; the blood from his hands was long gone. His throat was dry and sore and there were quite a few of swelling places on his face and stomach. Those stupid shitheads didn´t know where to hit though, it was unpleasant but not so painful, or at least he tried to persuade himself so. He hated his position the most.

The usual evening clamor made Cullen raise his head a little, carefully, as his stiffened neck protested against it. The changing of shifts started, with the zombies heading inside the barracks, and other creepy figures, which were just a little livelier, to the mines instead.

He watched that one part of routines in the mine feeling angry; but not at Jack, or even at the other guys, who had to learn not to be so hasty yet – he was angry at himself.

After all those years of escaping the law he let himself be caught so easily and to top it off, be used as a damn slave. It was so… humiliating. That was a right word for how Cullen felt - humiliated.

What would Leo say, if he knew what happened? Were they back yet? And if they already found out about their failure, what were they planning to do? As he knew Leo, he would not let it go... And that would bring the young leader exactly into that kind of troubles, from which Cullen wanted to protect him.

_Damn it all…._

*

 

The wheels of the heavily-loaded cart rumbled on the road, which cut the campsite in half. Two men sat at the trestle, not talking to each other and facing the first watch on the east side of the mine calmly.

The guards – two ominous men, the more muscular carrying a single-shot rifle, and the other one two revolvers – literally stared at the approaching wagon, the weapons ready in their hands. Unseen, there were two other men on both sides of the road, behind the heaps of stones. As soon as the cart reached their position, one of guards raised a lantern on the long stick, while the other aimed his rifle at the trestle.

“Stop right here! What are you taking in that cart?”

“A little sign of appreciation from Tabor, fellows,” the young man leading the horses stopped them and pushed his hat back from his face to show a wide smile.

“Really? What is it?” a doubtful question came.

“Some beer for all of you; you wanna check it out?”

“No kidding!” a stern face of the guard eased up a little, while the other was more suspicious.

“Why so late?”

“The road was bad, man. It was difficult to get it here…” the youngster complained wearily.

“Let me see,” the guard requested.

“Sure thing,” the smiling wagoner pointed over his back at the cargo in a few barrels.

While the suspicious guard went around the cart, to open the first accessible barrel, the other one focused on the faces of two arrivals more closely.

“Where are those other guys who usually bring us supplies?” he asked.

“We were told they ended up in bed recently, digestion problems or some such,” the youngster shrugged.

“They sit their asses on the latrine all the time,” the other one noted disgusted. “So they sent us this time.”

The guard frowned: “Don´t you dare to drag some infection here into the camp. You two are all right?”

“Sure, no need to worry,” both assured him hastily, just when the other man came back forward.

“It´s fine,” he announced the result of his check. “Leave it behind the kitchen, somebody should be there, tell them about it. And I think we have some empty boxes and barrels to be carried away, back to the Johnson Gulch.”

“Sure thing,” the young wagoner saluted and smacked at the horses. The cart started moving again, heading deeper inside the camp.

*

 

Two brothers watched the cart with barrels crossing the yard in front of the building, which they assumed to be the manager´s office. With a rumpus, which reached even their ears, the cart continued its way towards the spacious building nearby, probably the guards´ dormitory with the kitchen.

Jin and Leo lay on their stomachs on the top of the cliff, which sheltered the entrance to the mine. They managed to find a convenient way to that place from the west, and to their satisfaction they had a good overview of the whole campsite from there, as quite a lot of kerosene lanterns were spread along the main road and also on each corner of the buildings scattered around. They had also seen the line of chained workers, which disappeared in the dark hole under them almost half an hour ago.

Both young gunslingers had the impressive rifles in their hands. The weapons were properly cleaned and loaded, and had something over five-hundred-meter of effective range.

“They have it pretty well-covered,” the younger of the two noted, passing the small one-eyed telescope on to his brother. “Check it out.”

Only unwillingly, the older Akanishi took it in his hand. Leo noticed that his brother was not very eager to tear his eyes off the still-moving cart and that his other hand remained on the rifle all the time; Jin was more anxious than he would expect.

“Four men at the driveway, two in front of the office, just one by the barracks…” Jin counted in a quiet voice, as he moved with the telescope all over the site. “And if I remember correctly, two more had the position close that ugly hole under us, then other two at that dynamite shelter, or whatever it is. What about the rest, though?”

“The main office, or their dormitory, I´d say,” Leo reacted; content that Jin reached the same result as himself.

“If anything goes wrong, I take the left side,” Jin stated, putting the telescope aside, at the rock between them.

“All right,” Leo agreed. “But don´t you start shooting at any squirrel, which might jump down there.”

His older sibling glanced at him, measuring his face in the shadows: “What do you mean?”

“You seem to be quite willing to do that if anything seems even a little suspicious,” Leo stated, checking on the cart, which had just stopped. “Do not do anything hasty, Brother.”

“It´s quite normal to be worried in a situation like this,” Jin announced stiffly.

“Of course, just don´t worry too much…”

“ _You tell me_ this? Last time I checked it was _your_ girlfriend crouching in that barrel…” the older Akanishi reminded him curtly.

“But you act as if she is yours,” Leo snapped back, not very willing to admit he really was nervous about that fact.

“Jane maybe not, but Kame definitely is,” his brother reacted harshly, making Leo glance at him confused.

“What?”

“My friend, I mean…” he completed the previous sentence, focusing his eyes at the happenings under them again.

Leo eyed him for a while yet: “They can do it, Jin… Have some faith in them.”

The older one replied only after a short moment of silence: “Yeah, I know they can…”

 

Jin focused on the small shadowy figures down there, rather than on his brother´s face. He really was anxious as hell. All of them saw what that mine was like and they had just sent four of them, including Kazuya, down there, right among who-knew-how-many crazy gunmen. But still, he should have been more careful about what he was saying…

Through the long eyelet, he could see two dark shadows slipping out from under the cart and one more popping up from the barrel just behind the trestle. It definitely wasn´t very pleasant for Jane to be squeezed in there; the thing had to stink as hell.

Non-invited figures gathered with the waggoneers a brief moment, and then two youngsters sneaked away, avoiding the pools of light on the way.

“Kame and Ryo are on the move,” he announced, giving the telescope back to Leo. Jin tried to spot the two mentioned even then, but it was almost impossible, without anything to help his eyes to accustom to the play of shadows around the campsite. The only fact which made Jin calmer, was that the guards would not see them either like that.

“What the hell…” Leo murmured suddenly.

“What is it?” Jin flinched with his eyes at him startled.

“They don´t continue together…” the younger brother announced a little confused. “I spotted just Ryo heading for the barracks, but Kame is not with him.”

“Let me see,” Jin urged, literally tearing the thing off Leo´s hand. “Which way they went?”

“Around the manager´s office.”

Jin searched for the most probable and the darkest route they might have used and then something caught his attention. It was almost out of their eyesight, covered by the building partially, so they didn´t notice at first.

“There´s somebody tied up to the stake,” he said, frowning unsatisfied, as he was trying to focus his eye more. There was only one lantern at the office´s veranda, so it was impossible to recognize the face of the man, but he was somehow familiar. And then he spotted a careful yet very fast movement of the slim figure over that yard. Kame… The younger one was heading towards the captured man.

“Could it be Esler?” Jin asked forcing the telescope back to his brother.

Leo swore quietly, letting Jin know he was right: “Yeah, I think so. And there´s someone under the balcony…”

“That´s Kame,” the older one stated, trying to ease his tense voice up.

“Carl or Patrick had to notice Cullen tied up there on their way around…” Leo assumed. “So, Kame´s going to set him free first…”

“I don´t like it,” Jin murmured, running with his eyes all over the office´s surroundings. “There are still those two guards in front of it, but I don´t see any on that side, where Esler is. And somehow I doubt there´s no one.”

“Yeah, you´re right… But I think Kame is careful enough not to alert them so quickly…” the younger Akanishi stated.

“He is,” Jin confirmed, but still tapped his rifle resolutely.

*

 

Cullen´s jaw literally dropped, when he realized that a sneaking figure, which suddenly emerged from the dark shadow of the office´s building was not any figment of his imagination, but Kamenashi with the black scarf around his neck.

“What the hell are you…” the Rider gaped at the youngster, who approached him with a knife in his hand.

“Ssh!!” Kamenashi hushed him urgently and stood on his tiptoes to cut the man´s ties. “The guard is just behind the corner, at the balcony above us.”

The rope around Cullen´s wrists slackened and then fell down, along with his hands, which were totally numb. Cullen staggered and almost collapsed, but Kamenashi supported the older man firmly.

“Can you move?” he asked whispering.

The Rider took two deep breaths and nodded: “I´ll manage somehow…”

“Good… Take off your coat then.”

Kamenashi let him lean over the stake and walked away for a while. He came back with a rather big stone, which he wrapped into some cloth. Cullen pulled himself together a little and without unnecessary questions, he stripped off his dirty coat, hissing with the pain in his back. Then the younger one tied both sleeves to the loose ends of the rope and added the wrapped stone between them, to make it look like a bowed head. Cullen stared at the result appreciatively – in the dark it was hard to say there was nobody standing there.

“Follow me,” that incredible youngster instructed him. Cullen had no idea how Kamenashi got inside the heavily-guarded campsite, but he was definitely not alone, so he gulped the questions down for later.

They retreated into the deep shadow under the balcony just in time; they could already hear the steps of the guard walking above their heads. They waited frozen on the spot anxiously, but fortunately no yell of surprise or warning came and the man walked around the whole side of the house, continuing his watch.

Kamenashi looked back at Cullen and the older man nodded, to let him know he was ready to move on. They ran across the yard, towards the shelter for wood supplies and cowered behind it they got further away from the office, without being noticed. They needed to cross just the short space between it and the shed for tools, and then they stopped at the next corner. The youngster peeped out from behind and then gestured Cullen to continue towards the other building – the kitchen and dining room. Cullen spotted the cart standing there and some men around.

“Who else is here with you?” he asked whispering.

“That´s Carl and Patrick over there,” Kamenashi explained hastily. “Ryo went for Jack.”

“And Leo?” Cullen insisted on being aware of the whole situation.

“He´s backing us with Jin from the cliff above the mine,” the youngster replied impatiently.

“Ryo will need back-up himself,” Cullen approached the corner now too, looking out carefully at the empty road. “There´s a full barracks of workers, all of them sleeping, he won´t find Jack so easily.”

“That´s why we´re planning to let all of them go,” Kamenashi explained. “Go now.”

The surprised Rider turned to him in disbelief: “You cannot make such a reckless…!”

But Kamenashi didn´t listen to his urgent objections anymore, as his slim figure once again disappeared in the night.

“Damn!” Cullen swore, as he limped across the road towards the cart.

They forced the workers to have their chains all the time, so Ryo would have to unlock them first. And they couldn´t do it without keys, which only a few of the guards had. They could only hope that one of them was guarding that building now…

*

 

The room full of exhausted men gradually fell silent. No matter that they had to sleep on the floor, any rest was more than a welcome change from hard mining in the bedrocks or smelting of ore. The heavy thud didn´t disturb their sleep, and the door opening startled just those few who lied close to them. A sudden light from the big kerosene lantern brought more of them to their senses, and the clinging of keys worked even better.

The enslaved men, even some boys, and also a few women squinted in the light confusedly. It was not a time for another shift yet; they hardly got any sleep at all. The stranger carrying the lantern stopped in the middle of their poor bedroom, and raised his other hand with a bunch of heavy keys up, letting them cling again. More of awoken workers sat up, and stared at the tall man with a black scarf over his face first, before their eyes were attracted to the shine of metal in the stranger´s hand.

“So, who wants to get out of here?” the young voice asked.

Considering the expressions on all faces around, the workers probably wondered if they had a crazy dream or mass hallucination. Somebody else entered the barracks then and the second youngster with a scarf appeared.

“Stop flaunting and start unlocking,” he hissed at his companion reproachfully.

“Kame…” the other one whined. “Let me have at least two minutes of this good feeling…”

“We don´t have two minutes!” the younger one reacted almost angrily. “And don´t call me by name! What´s gotten into you?”

“All right, all right, I´m sorry…” the first incomer somewhat slackened his attitude. “Ok, then, everyone! Which key is the right one?”

The deadly silent room, full of wide-open eyes now, didn´t reply.

“Oh, come on!! I know you´re happy to see your saviors, but please – hurry up!” the youngster looked around impatiently, while his companion checked the outside of the barracks shortly.

“It´s separated,” a child´s voice was heard at the end of one line of workers. “Three keys, three kinds of locks.”

The black-haired one gasped at the dirty boy around fifteen years: “What? Oh, shit…”

“We should hurry up then!” his younger companion closed the door and rushed to the other one, taking the keys. He crossed the room and approached the kid, to show him the bunch of metal more closely. “Do you remember which one belongs to yours?”

The small worker nodded, reached up his hand with broken nails and touched one of the keys.

“Great,” the masked gunman kneeled down to his legs. “Do you have any decided order for the places where you sleep?” he continued asking, while the other one just goggled at him above the scarf.

“Well,” the boy hesitated, with his dark eyes observing the slim hands unlocking the thing, which stole his freedom away for so long. “Yes, they always say to each newcomer, where to lie down.”

“What does it matter?” the first one asked confused.

“It seems that Koki is contagious…” the younger one murmured so quietly, that only the boy could hear it, and then straightened up: “It may mean that the same key belongs to this whole line,” he separated the key from the ring and forced it into his baffled companion´s hand. “Try it,” he said and moved on to the second row, which has already started to stir; the workers got excited, when they saw the boy standing with his legs free.

“Do you mean it, guys?” an elder man from the last line asked, his shaking hand reaching towards them. “Do you really mean to get us out of here?”

Very kind, brown eyes focused on him: “We will definitely try,” the young stranger reacted, with the guilt hidden in his voice.

*

 

“What a pretty girl like you is doing at the ugly place like this?” a hairy and stinky man, who obviously had a lot of self-confidence, but made Jane sick, grabbed her wrist to drag the brunette closer to the light.

Jane forced an almost apologetic smile on her lips: “I´m just helping out my family, Mister.”

Her task was annoying, but it worked more than well. Well, of course, it did. Many men, whom Jane got to know in her life, were idiots thinking by their crotch. It didn´t took her much effort to distract the gunmen in the kitchen enough for Carl and Patrick to unload the barrels with so-called beer, as it was only in one of them. And already stealing that single one in the Johnson Gulch was a pain in the ass. Then the guys loaded something completely else instead – Cullen in torn-out clothes, whom she managed to notice through the half-open door, making a note in her mind to kick Carl for not closing them properly.

“Oh, you´re a nice girl, aren´t you?” the other present gunman noted with a randy smile, dousing his cigarette. “What about being nice to us, too?”

“Yeah, good idea, man,” the other one agreed and strengthened the grip around her wrist.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, Jane leant forward to whisper into the man´s ear: “Maybe next time, Mister. It´s quite late, I need to go back quickly.”

“Don´t worry, sweetheart, we can make it _very quick_ …”

Both guards laughed nastily over that disgusting joke.

“But that would be not so enjoyable then,” Jane purred, scratching the man´s chin with the stubble and in her mind praying for…

The door opened fully without knocking and two youngsters with black scarves across their faces came inside.

 _Yes, for that exactly I prayed for..._ Jane appreciated.

The stinky man was faster to understand the situation than his companion, seeing the revolvers in the incomers´ hands. But he reached only for the empty sheath, as his gun was already in Jane´s hand. She aimed at his head with much more honest smile than before.

“Not a move, Mister,” she asked him, while her companions moved towards the other guard to tie him up. “Pretty please, as I´m a nice girl…”

*

 

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Ryo swore, as soon as he made sure that the sleeping building was really empty. “How comes he´s not here?”

Kame was unpleasantly surprised as well, but tried hard to remain calm. He expected some fuss about the unusual movements of the workers they let go every second, and that would mean they had to retreat as soon as possible.

“You´re looking for someone, sir?” that boy, whom they freed as the first, was ironically the last one to stay, as he supported an old man during the walk. Hearing Ryo´s desperate swearing, the pair stopped at the corner.

Ryo glanced at them, confused about what they were still doing there.

“Yes. Our friend…” he murmured unhappily.

“He has a fair hair and a little scar under his eye; he got here only recently. Do you remember someone like that?” Kame asked.

“Yes, that might be him,” the old man, leaning over the boy´s shoulder, reacted. “Some blonde kid wanted to change shifts with me today.”

Their rescuers looked at each other wordlessly.

“You mean he´s inside the mine now?” Ryo asked baffled.

The old man nodded. This time, both youngsters cursed their bad luck at the same moment.


	21. With the blast

**A** very quiet and melodic whistle in the dark made the two Riders and pretty brunette, who were anxiously waiting by the cart, turn in the direction of that sound with hope and worries at the same time. The dark figures of their companions, with the black scarves still covering their faces, appeared in the dim light coming from the kitchen.

“Where´s Jack?!” Patrick snapped as soon as he noticed that the third person they had expected was not with them.

“He wasn´t in the barracks,” Ryo replied, pulling the scarf down from his face with a depressed sigh.

“One old man told us he wanted to change shifts with him,” Kame, uncovering himself as well, completed the information gloomily. “He´s inside the mine now.”

“Shit!” Carl kicked the closest stone angrily, sending it to the pile of its buddies.

“That idiot…” Esler peeked from behind the cart´s barrier with a worried expression. “He probably plans to do something foolish.”

“So, what will we do now?” Patrick paced alongside the horses, which were still harnessed to the carriage. “It won´t take long before somebody notice the slaves are gone!”

Carl stepped up on his tiptoes, to check the kitchen through the window, as they had left two tied guards inside: “We should leave quickly at least with Esler, as long as we have a chance.”

“But what about Jack?!” Jane snapped at him. “Are we just going to leave him here?”

“I almost hate to say that but I´d feel really bad to escape without him…” Esler joined her in a dangerous tone, making the young Rider blush.

“I didn´t mean to leave him entirely!” Carl defended himself. “We can come back for him later…”

“That would be too late,” surprisingly, Kame opposed him as the first. “Once the guards realize what happened, they will be much more careful. We need to get him out _now_.”

“For once, I agree with you, kiddo,” Esler reacted, piercing Kame with a sharp glance.

“But how are we supposed to do that?!” Patrick scratched his chin desperately.

“We don´t know how many guards are in the mine…” Carl supported his companion.

“Usually not many,” the oldest Rider informed him right away. “They rely a lot on those chains, which restrain everyone here.”

“Ok, but… What about Jack himself?” the anxious youngster continued. “We have no idea how deep in the mine he is and…”

“It´s clear that we cannot handle this without a great risk...” Ryo cut into his pessimistic speech. “But…”

“But it´s worth trying,” Kame finished his thought surprisingly calmly.

Ryo glanced at him smirking a little: “Yeah…”

“We have a certain backup right above the mine, if you didn´t forget,” the younger one reminded them. “We just need to distract the guards in front of the entrance and then find Jack without causing much ruckus.”

“I can do the distraction,” Jane stated with a wide smile. “I´m quite good at that, so I´m going with you, guys.”

“All right,” Kame nodded without hesitation.

“Even so, there´s too few of us to pull off something like that!” Patrick growled unhappily.

“Even less than you think,” Kame reacted harshly, already getting upset about the defeatist attitude of those two. “Look, there´s no time for arguments. If you don´t want to give up on Jack completely, we need to do it right now.”

“I´m not leaving him here,” Jane stated, frowning at Carl and Patrick.

“Me neither,” Ryo joined her, checking his revolvers.

“Fine… I´m with you then,” Kame nodded and looked at two pessimists. “You need to ride off with Esler. There must be the two of you, same as you arrived before, otherwise the guards won´t let you go.”

“So, just the three of you will go there?” Carl´s jaw dropped in astonishment. “ _You are crazy_.”

“On the contrary, I think I´m starting to like him,” Esler grinned almost insanely.

“Let´s discuss our sanity later!” determined Kame didn´t even notice that Esler had just flattered him. “We must hurry up.”

Ryo, literally copying Cullen´s grimace, approached the younger one, placing one hand on his shoulder, while ruffling his hair with the other amusedly: “Hey, who made you the leader, cute outsider? But I won´t tell Leo about this, I swear.”

While Jane rolled her eyes at Ryo´s behavior, Kame casted the Rider´s hand off, staring at him in disbelief. It seemed that adrenaline was doing something really bad with Ryo´s brain.

“Ignore him,” Jane advised the confused ´outsider´. “And you shut it, Ryo; we don´t have time for your stupid jokes.”

“Of course,” Ryo agreed willingly, still smiling. “The time is against us, guys. But Jane, I don´t think you should…”

“Not a word about Leo,” the brunette raised a warning finger. “I can take care of myself.”

“Of course you´ll be all right; he will kill _me_ ,” Ryo snorted, but returned the scarf on his face without any other objections. “Let´s go then!”

“But I need something first…” Jane rushed back inside the kitchen, while Kame pulled out some long white strips of cloth from his pocket.

“Don´t forget these,” he forced the strips into Carl´s and Patrick´s hands.

“And what are these for?” Esler asked, as he observed the others tying the cloths around their arms. “So that you will be more noticeable?” he guessed caustically.

“Exactly,” Kame confirmed, ignoring the man´s sarcasm, and tying one right under Ryo´s shoulder.

“They´re for our two brothers to tell us apart from the others,” Ryo completed the information.

When Jane went out again, with a bottle of some alcohol, she smiled in reaction at the surprised glances: “Just to be more convincing.”

Patrick and Carl didn´t seem to be convinced, but before they could talk the rest of the rescue group out of their intention, a single gunshot interrupted their preparations. Everybody stiffened, listening to the so-far calm night. Then there was another shot, a little further away, and it was followed with some cries of alarm.

“They noticed them already?” Ryo hissed. “What is Nick doing?”

Kame and Jane didn´t say anything and disappeared in the dark, which resonated with more gunshots. The campsite was coming to life quickly.

“Get out before they notice Cullen isn´t at the stake!!” Ryo ordered the remaining two strictly and ran off as well.

Somewhat calmer, Esler lay down in the cart again, while Carl and Patrick hopped on the trestle. He figured out that both Akanishi brothers were at some convenient position, ready with the rifles to support the rest of the group. He didn´t know about the skills of the older one, but Leo was a great shooter, and if the two of them were even a little alike in that, it was the best choice to let them take the role of sharpshooters.

*

 

“For all Indian gods, what are they doing?!” Jin gaped at three white spots moving towards their position, instead of the opposite direction, as it was planned.

The brothers could already hear the fuss caused by the escaping workers on the south side of the mine. There was no time for any heroism; the rescue group was supposed to leave as soon as they gathered Esler and Jack.

Leo took up the telescope, running it across the whole campsite.

“The cart is leaving though, Patrick and Carl are there. And Esler hidden in the back, I think.”

Jin took a deep breath: “So those three are…?”

“Kame, Ryo, and… Jane. Damn it… They probably didn´t find Jack in the barracks,” Leo gritted through his teeth.

“So they decided to pay a visit to him in the mine? That´s just _awesome_!” Jin appreciated with irony.

“I´d say it´s stupid, but they wouldn´t listen, anyway,” Leo reacted, now more anxious than Jin was. “They´ve just separated. Oh, guys, what are you going to do?” he murmured for himself. “Be ready, Bro. I´ve got a feeling they won´t stay unnoticed for long…”

“I´m ready for the whole fucking evening,” Jin grunted, making himself as comfortable as was possible on the hard rock.

*

 

“Good evening, gentlemen,” a sweet greeting coming from even sweeter lips surprised the alarmed guards greatly. They expected anything else coming out from the dark, but not a pretty woman with a bottle of whiskey. “I´m sorry to interrupt, it´s not the best time, but if I don´t fulfill my duty, I will be punished…”

“What´s up, girl? What´re you doing here? And what are those gunshots about?” the older of the two asked urgently.

“I have no idea, but I was ordered to bring this to you…” the surprising female approached closer. “Mr. Tabor sent the whole cart of alcohol for all of you.”

“Oh, really?” the man raised his eyebrows. “So much appreciation suddenly… Hey, wait, this is from our kitch-”

The guard didn´t even finish the word. The fingers punched a certain spot on his neck and the man fell down to the ground so quickly, that Jane stared at the young man, who caused it, in quite a shock.

The second guard was still resisting the grip of the other attacker. The gunmen didn´t notice anyone sneaking behind their backs, because they were so focused on the brunette in front of them.

It took Ryo much longer to reach the same result. He pointed at Kame then, a little breathless: “You must teach me that move of yours.”

Jane drew her hidden colts: “I´ll stay on the watch, guys. I will whistle if anything…”

Kame looked up, to the rock overhang above them. As far as he could tell, they were almost right under both brothers, but once they step inside the mine, they would remain without their support.

“All right, just a whistle and then hide!” Ryo emphasized to the brunette. “Kame, here,” he gave him one of the torches, which were prepared at the entrance. “Let´s do this.”

*

 

“Oh, shit…” Leo murmured.

“What is it?”

“More troubles…”

“Let me see!” Jin reached for the telescope, pulling it out of the brother´s hand roughly. He hated when he couldn´t see what Leo saw.

“The manager´s office,” his brother navigated.

Jin pointed the spyglass in the said direction to finally notice a bunch of gunmen rushing down from the balcony in the first floor of the building.

“Damn… So there _were_ more of them in the end.”

“How much do you think?” Leo asked.

“Dozen of them at least,” he stated, eyeing the dark figures, who gathered in front of the office. They discussed something shortly and then separated into two groups. “Maybe a little more. And here they go…”

“What?”

“Part of them is heading here, to the mine, I´d say.”

“We can´t let them get inside, the others would have been trapped!”

“I know… We won´t let them,” Jin started to let his eyes accustom to the play of darkness and lantern lights in front of the mine´s entrance. “We won´t,” he repeated stubbornly.

*

 

Jack had always known that he had more luck than wits. And for that evening his luck helped him out a lot, especially during the fight with one guard. Even that stupid spoon came to be useful, when he stuck it into the man´s eye. But still, he couldn´t believe it would have helped _so much_.

At first, when he spotted two familiar figures in the narrow corridor, both with the black scarves over their faces, armed to teeth and with flaring torches in their hands, Jack thought he had some hallucinations because of that hit to his head, which was simply too hard. He stared at the two, as they stared back at him not a bit less surprised. He eyed the youngsters one after another, recognizing Ryo first, then Kame, whose pretty features couldn´t be covered up by some scarf.

“Jack? What the…! What are you…?!” Ryo exclaimed, utterly surprised.

“Guys!” Jack breathed out, his knees almost slackening under him. “ _How_ did you…?”

“How _did you_?!” Ryo reacted in a very similarly intelligent way.

“Oh, sweet Jesus, I´m so so _so_ lucky,” the dirty and bloody Rider turned his eyes to the low ceiling above them. “I swear that I will never… No, not that… I will never _curse_ again!”

The older Rider pulled the scarf down, grinning at his buddy happily: “You didn´t think we would leave you here, did you?” Ryo patted Jack´s shoulder.

“How about leaving the moving promises for later?” the other rescuer proposed. “I´ve got a feeling that our precious luck had just run out with this meeting…” Kame leant down, to the still chained legs of the enslaved Rider.

Jack stared at him honestly surprised: “How did you get those keys?” he asked him baffled.

“Also questions later, man,” Ryo replied, while Kame searched for the right key. “We need to get out of here first.”

*

 

Jane realized that it might take quite long before Kame and Ryo would find Jack in the mine, not to mention there was a high possibility they would come across some armed guards. Nevertheless, she couldn´t help but glance into the darkness behind her almost each minute, to check if they were coming back yet or not.

She felt pretty abandoned there, between the crooked pillars, hidden in the shadow and regularly checking on two unconscious men, whom they had left behind one of the piles of rocks nearby. But on the other hand, she kept being afraid that some passing gunman would notice her there and set off another alarm. For that moment, it looked like that everyone´s attention was focused on the south side of the campsite, in the direction where the released slaves escaped, but that could change any…

The brunette flinched when her ears caught some voices echoing between the buildings. She retreated into even deeper shadow, listening more closely. The voices were approaching, accompanied with many steps. And then she also spotted the lights of the lanterns…

_Oh, no…_

Jane literally whirled around on her heels, ready to send the warning inside the dark corridors, no matter who else might hear it and suppressed a long whistle only in the last second. There was a small light heading towards her. Attaching herself to the cold wall, she raised both hands with colts, but… To her huge relief, she recognized three young men, when they were just a few steps away from her.

“Thank God!” she welcomed Ryo, who came as the first, carrying both torches, while Kame supported a little staggering and pale Jack while walking. “We must hurry up! Some guards are coming here!”

Ryo immediately draw his revolver as well, glancing outside with a deep frown.

“Just great, and here I thought we have a head start… Kame, next time, just shut up about any luck running out, ok?”

They all reached the mine´s exit just at the moment, when approximately dozen of gunmen appeared on the border of darkness and light.

“We´re running for the woods,” Ryo decided, looking at their small group. They all realized it would take them right into the open field of fire, but one after another nodded. “Now we will see what our dear brothers can do…”

*

 

“Come on, where are they?” Leo kept patting the gun-stock, his eyes running from the spot in front of the mine´s entrance, which was in his field of vision, to the corner of the building, from behind which he expected their enemies to appear. The gunmen were rushing, and getting closer each second. If the others would not make it out in time…

“They´re out!” Jin breathed out, pretty much surprised about how fast it was. “And there´s four of them!”

Unfortunately, the appearance of four Riders – or more precisely of two Riders, Jane and Kame – was accompanied with shouts from the approaching group. Three rescue members and Jack started running north.

“They want to reach the woods for some cover…” Leo murmured, already targeting the fastest gunman, who aimed the rifle at the fugitives, with many more others following him.

The mine´s security didn´t make the first gunshot though. It was Akanishi brothers, who fired at once, before any of them could have. The rifle-man tumbled to the ground; the other one right behind him dropped his weapon with a painful scream. They were both bleeding from the open wounds in their shoulders.

The rest of gunmen broke off the pursuit and raised their heads, confused about from where the shots came from, as the sounds resonated between the rocks with confusing echo.

Leo and Jin exchanged short glances.

“You didn´t lose your sight,” the younger brother noted, while he already targeted another guard.

“And you learnt something new,” Jin fired with the end of his sentence again, making three gunmen flinch away from the guard, who fell down grabbing his knee.

“I trained a lot, big Bro, you won´t be better forever,” Leo murmured, pulling the trigger for the second time.

Another man yelled almost like a woman, when a bullet pierced his left thigh. The others finally started to either fire blindly or search for some cover. Some guards retreated, hoping to be out of the unseen shooters´ reach.

“Don´t think you can surpass me that easily,” Jin responded to his brother´s challenge and another firing man screamed because of the heavily bleeding wrist.

Leo frowned seeing that: “Stop showing off, this is serious.”

“I´m just trying not to kill them, little Bro,” Jin stated in a more than serious voice, fully focused at the next target.

All unharmed guards fell back gradually, some continued firing on their position along the way, now much more precisely though, and the little stones showered both brothers, from the places, where the bullets hit the rock. The shootout created some time for the fugitives to increase their lead, but somebody had to help one of them – probably Jack – to keep walking, so they were not as quick as they should have been. Some guards left their defensive position in front of the mine, and set off to chase the runaways.

Leo noticed how Jin lost his focus for a short moment when he glanced in that direction, his face full of worries. It didn´t take long before a furious shooting was heard there too.

“Go,” Leo said, as he loaded his rifle again. He felt a concerned stare of his brother, and repaid it shortly. He would have rather rushed there himself, but at least one of them had to stay. “I can handle it here alone, they can´t reach me so easily. But they will need help over there, so just go.”

“All right…” cowered as much as it was possible, Jin passed around him. “Good luck, little one.”

“I don´t need luck, I can shoot…” Leo growled, but then added in a quieter voice. “Jin… You guarantee me their safety.”

His older brother nodded: “You can count on me.”

*

 

Obviously pretty angry guards cornered them on the north side of the rocky complex, which hid the deep, deep mine. Maybe they would have managed to get out on time, but Jack slowed them down. Already in the mine, Kame noticed the thin trickle of blood running from a wound on his head and the Rider´s walking was heavier with each step, his face turning almost white - Jack had the serious symptoms of concussion.

Kame helped the youngster sit down behind the high pile of stones and hastily joined Ryo on the top of it. The Rider kept firing at the closing-up group of gunmen, so far forcing them to seek some cover. Their situation was bad, but Kame ignored the rushing adrenaline in his veins and focused on checking out their whole surroundings, trying to find any way-out. And then his eyes came across the dark alcove…

Leaving Ryo behind again, Kame rushed back down from the pile to Jack, so quickly he almost rode on the waterfall of little stones.

“Jack! In that alcove on the left from the mine, what is hidden there?”

The bleeding Rider looked at him with misty eyes: “I think that… explosives…” his speech was becoming heavy too.

“Is it big?”

“No… I don´t think so… It was possible to see inside in the daytime.”

“Good.”

Kame looked at Jane who was observing him expectantly, as if she knew he had something on his mind.

“We must slow them down, or we´re done here,” he said and the brunette just nodded. “We need to get closer though…”

“I understand. Hold on for just a moment, all right?” Jane patted Jack´s shoulder and then both of them climbed back up to Ryo.

“It was about time you two! I can´t hold them back all at once!” he snapped at them.

Kame took a deep breath and repaid the firing so intensely, that their chasers fell back again, even though he avoided injuring them fatally.

“Will you manage to cover us for a short moment yet?” he asked the Rider urgently.

“What?” Ryo glanced at him with a confused frown. “What do you want to…?”

“Just cover us,” Kame requested, nodded at Jane and then they both ran down on the other side of the pile, before the guards could have get themselves together for another attack.

“Damn it!” only faintly, they heard Ryo above them cursing, before the new gunshots deafened them.

Breathless, they ducked behind the poor shelter of a huge rock. The bullets whistled around them, creating small holes in the ground and then ceased as Ryo´s firing forced them on the defense.

“One shot won´t be enough, two at least, better three,” Kame instructed the brunette. “Ready?”

“Any time, handsome,” Jane replied, her eyes shining a little crazily. “Let´s make some ruckus.”

The young gunslinger and pretty dangerous brunette stood up at once and started shooting directly at the dark hole, which was left unguarded for a while now…  

*

 

Carl almost fell down from the trestle in fright, while Patrick had a hard time to hold the scared horses back. Cullen dug himself out from under the pile of boxes and straightened up to sit in the cart so quickly, that he had to bit his lip to suppress the moan of pain.

The sound of detonation gradually rumbled down in weakening echoes behind their backs.

“What the fuck was that?” Cullen hissed, trying to overcome an awful dizziness.

“Dynamite…” Carl breathed out, as he turned on the trestle to stare back in the mine´s direction in disbelief. “They really used it…”

“What?!” Cullen gaped at him, stunned. “You mean they blew up that damn stock of dynamite?”

“What else could have caused such a racket?”

“Dear God, you really are a bunch of reckless brats…” Cullen moaned this time and lay back between the boxes.

“Hey…” Patrick looked back at him indignantly. “We´ve just saved your precious ass, man.”

“Try to think again about why I ended up here on the first place,” the older man snorted. “Go, before the guards might think we had anything to do with that...”

*

 

Jin tripped over own feet, that quickly he turned to the edge of the cliff, under which there was their running group somewhere. The ground under him trembled even after the sound of explosion went off and the sinister glow boded something very ugly.

For that moment not caring about if he would be spotted or not, Jin approached the edge of the crumbling hill hastily and looked down – there was a hellish furnace in the place where that guarded rock niche used to be. The flood of rocks and stones was spread out within two-hundred-meter perimeter around it, with the spots beaming with fire among them. He also spotted a couple of guards lying nearby, swirling on the ground in pain and shock.

Jin moved his look more to the right, in the direction where the others fled, almost panicking, as he found only a fresh avalanche of stones gathered at the foot of the cliff, which was probably loosened by that explosion.

 _What if they got caught up in it? What if? What if…?_ Jin couldn´t even finish his thought.

The deafening silence was suddenly disturbed with new gunshots. Jin cowered, but the shooting was not aimed at him. He searched again and found two figures staggering away from the mine, almost in the cover of trees already. But nobody was chasing them and the other two from the rescue group were missing.

The left side of the complex was damn quiet now, he didn´t hear Leo´s rifle anymore, which could mean he got rid of all those guards, or they moved on further and retreated.

Squeezing his rifle, Jin descended even lower on the hill, slipping on the stones, until he got on the very edge of some stump and crouched down to check on the mess under him again. And then he finally noticed them. Two persons, whose hair was auburn in the glowing light, were making their way up alongside the cliff, sliding on the non-existing path, which one of them chose. It was Kame, and Jane followed him.

At first, Jin didn´t understand why they didn´t run off towards the woods as well, and why the hell were they trying to climb up the inaccessible cliff? And then he realized that the avalanche was the obstacle they had to pass only by going up, because of the pursuers from the other side.

The angry voices were heard somewhere behind the avalanche of stones and more shots hit the ground unpleasantly close to the proceeding figures. They didn´t shoot back, which could only mean they were out of bullets or weapons in general.

With his heart beating heavily from seeing Kazuya in that situation, Jin eyed the direction which the younger one chose for their ascent, trying to find the possible end of it.

“Shit…” he cursed and ran off from the edge in such a rush, he almost slid out away from it.

Those two couldn´t see it from their position, and they probably thought they would be able to drag themselves up to the very top of the cliff, but Jin already saw there was no way out for them. Their progress was about to be stopped by the steep wall, which they wouldn´t have climbed up even in years…


	22. Consequences

**J** umping over the larger stones in his way, Jin rushed alongside the edge of the high cliff, trying to focus on his own steps instead of the series of unceasing gunshots, which could be heard from below. It would not help anyone if he broke his neck up here.

Hoping that he was already far enough, he approached the terrifying border of the rocky ground and air, stopping his feet only at the last second. With fear squeezing his throat and stomach, he looked down.

Almost directly under his position, both Jane and Kame crouched behind some natural pile of rocks, which got trapped between the roots and branches of a few dead bushes at the non-existing path. They managed to get higher than he had expected, but their pursuers did as well; the bullets of five guards kept showering the nearby surroundings of their poor hideout.

Jin pulled the rifle down from his shoulder, took only a short moment to steady his breath, and aimed. Concentrating only on his targets, he switched off the menacing blaze which roared not far to his left now, the alar calls from the direction of the mine, the growing cold reaching for his fingers and trying to make them numb… None of it was important. He saw only those dark figures, which climbed up the hill after the runaways.

The young gunslinger pulled the trigger. So quickly that his fingers were only the blurs during the movement, he loaded again and fired for the second time, and then the third time. One after another he hit three gunmen, not caring anymore about where the bullets ended up, before the rest of the guards hastily retreated several meters back down, with yells and swearing, which reached even above the top of the cliff.

The cornered pair of their rescue team turned their heads up, and their eyes spotted Jin´s figure high above them. He couldn´t see their expressions in the play of night shadows and orange fiery light, still they were quite far for that, but Jin didn´t even want to; it might have shaken his determination. He managed to think out only one way to get them out of the campsite and that required a rope and horse, so he had to leave them for a while…

With deadly accuracy, Jin sent three more bullets towards the pursuers, who dared to stick their heads out from behind some rocks. Then he checked that the brunette and his lover were still paying attention to him. Hastily, he pulled the scarf off his neck and wrapped two spare revolvers into it. Prying for a good toss and some luck, Jin threw the package down.

Kame was out of their hideout even sooner than Jin´s gift finished its flight. The younger one had to slip down the cliff a little to reach it, but fortunately, when he straightened up again, the package was safely in his hands. The older one observed the space on his level as closely as was only possible under the circumstances, and then he pointed in the direction of an unusually shaped rock overhang, which he supposed they could reach. The slim figure looking up at him nodded, and Jin believed Kame understood his instruction. The younger one scrambled over the shifting stones back to Jane and together they continued the harsh climb.

With a heavy heart, Jin set off into the dark night once again, rushing across the difficult terrain as fast as he dared to, and prayed so that he wouldn´t break his leg.

*

 

Kame already reproached himself more than once that he had _ever_ mentioned something about luck.

The blast worked out as they had intended. It hurt some guards so badly they couldn´t continue chasing them and it held the rest of them back for a while. The problem was that it triggered an awful avalanche of stones, which separated him and Jane from Ryo and Jack. While the Riders could hopefully run off to the forest, the way for the other two was closed.

Kame and Jane, now out of bullets, which they used up on the dynamite, found themselves trapped between the fire, the mountain of stones and a few of the guards, who gathered themselves and set off behind them with much bigger resolution. The only escape Kame could figure out was a way up alongside the unstable rocky hill, hoping to find a path to the top of it.

The ascent didn´t go as bad as he had feared, even though it was difficult, but the closing guards and their shooting soon prevented them from getting safely further. They were out of breath, when they reached the small rocky hideout approximately in the middle of the hill. Kame desperately pondered grabbing at least some stones for defense, when the gunshots above their heads were heard.

Their pursuers retreated screaming and cursing and Kame popped his head up, as well as Jane. In the light of the furnace they had created; they noticed a tall figure with dark-hair standing dangerously close the very edge of the cliff. Jin…

Seeing the older one, Kame managed to gather his lost composure. He was sure Jin would get them out. He was able to soothe even Jane´s anxiety and grabbing one of the revolvers Jin threw them from above, he found new strength to climb in the direction, which Jin indicated. But within a couple of minutes his faith faltered a little.

They found themselves at a spot which ended with a free fall to the valley, and a steep wall on their right hand - the only way out was back down in their own tracks. Kame looked down the cliff and to his fright he noticed movements between the rocks not so far away from them; those guards were really persistent…

Jane leant over the wall breathless and closed her eyes, a desperate expression in her features. Kame raised his head again, to check the top of the cliff above them, but there was nothing at all.

_Why did Jin want us to get specifically here?_

“There is no way we could climb this,” Jane whispered in defeat.

Kame looked at her and then down at their pursuers again. Hastily, he made the brunette crouch down, so that they would not be spotted so easily.

“We are armed now, so let´s not give up yet, Jane,” he asked her in a forcefully calm tone.

The brunette eyed him surprised: “God, what gives you so much of positive thinking in this situation?”

“I believe in Jin,” Kame replied.

*

 

“It´s your time to shine, buddy,” Jin urged on the black stallion.

Kuro just shook his big head resentfully, as if he was upset that Jin dared to doubt his abilities, while his master already staggered across the stony plateau.

Jin´s guts and legs were tied up with fear for the safety of Kazuya and Jane. He was almost amazed that he made it back in time, when he found both of them cowering at that overhang, which he had pointed out before. But they were surrounded by enemies once again. It was clear that they were trying to save the precious bullets and they couldn´t keep those annoying guards in respectful distance without using all of them.

Jin kneeled down, squeezing one end of the long rope, which was tied to the saddle of his dear horse. His hand was shaking a little, when he let the coil fall down, worrying for a second that it might not be long enough… and he breathed out in relief when it ended up hanging right in front of Kame´s nose.

Both runaways looked up in surprise and Jin urged them with his hand to move and get their asses out of there. Without hesitation, Kame pulled Jane up from the knee-bend and tied the rope around her waist in a few skillful movements. Two awfully loud bullets whistled around them, making Jin flinch. Kame turned to face the approaching gunmen with now two revolvers in his hands, sending them some response. Then he glanced back, confused about the fact that Jane was still on the place.

Jin almost rolled his eyes.

“Both of you, damn it!” he yelled anxiously, worried that the guards might notice what they were about to do.

Kame didn´t seem to be persuaded about the idea, but still he grabbed Jane firmly, holding onto the rope finally. Jin looked back on the patiently waiting stallion and whistled sharply. Kuro neighed and plunged forward, slowing down only a little when the rope tightened under the weight tied to it.

All tense, Jin kept checking the moving rope so it would not to get stuck anywhere and watched two figures almost flying up in the air, just from time to time supporting their feet on the wall, as they swung a little. Those bastards under them finally noticed that their prey somehow learnt how to fly. They rushed up the cliff yelling angrily and shooting blindly. Jane exclaimed in fear, when one of the bullets passed them only by inches, shattering the cliff next to the taut rope. But they were now also close enough the top of the cliff… Jin drew his last revolver, which he had taken from the sheath in Kuro´s saddle before, and released the pulled back the hammer.

“Do not dare… to shoot… after… my… boyfriend,” he hissed the words under his nose unconsciously, firing twice at each of the fastest gunmen. The two of them collapsed, screaming in pain, while the unharmed hid behind some rocks, screaming something in futile anger.

When the faces of Jane and Kame finally appeared above the edge of the cliff, they were dirty and darkened. Jin whistled again to stop Kuro and reached with both his hands to help them. Kame managed to climb over the edge quickly, so they ended up both pulling Jane up.

“Thank you, guys,” the brunette breathed out, squeezing their arms, obviously still surprised about the outcome of their escape, but mostly relieved. “That was a heck of a height…”

Jane broke free from their firm grip and then retreated from the edge quickly, with the rope still around her waist. She came to meet Kuro, who was proudly returning to them.

Jin allowed himself to breathe out in relief only when he focused his eyes on disheveled Kame, who remained kneeling on the edge. The younger one tore his disbelieving glance off the pit they managed to get out from. The guards down there seemed to explode in anger every second, trying to shoot up at them without much effect, as the bullets didn´t even reach their level.

“What were you thinking down there?” Jin burst out, releasing all his worries at once. “That Kuro cannot handle both of you with that fly weight of yours?”

The younger one stared at him, a little shocked about the outburst: “I… I didn´t… think… that… you…”

“Ah, shut up,” Jin interrupted him suddenly lovingly, reached his hand out, and helped Kame get up on his feet.

Not caring about anything else, Jin pulled Kazuya into his arms. Kame took a long shaky breath, finally allowing himself to let go of that anxiety, which was squeezing him since the moment they separated at the crossroads half a mile away from the mine. He huddled up into the older one´s hug, which felt so, so good…

“You always make me worry, damn it,” Jin murmured into his ear.

Kame wanted to remind him that it was very similar other way around, but something blocked his throat so that he simply could not speak. Unwillingly, he pulled back from Jin, when he remembered they were not alone. But when they glanced in Jane´s direction, the brunette seemed to be busy with caressing the satisfied black stallion.

Jin squeezed the younger´s shoulder, before he let him go.

“What about Ryo and Jack?” Kame asked, fearing the answer a little. “Did you see them anywhere?”

“Yeah, I think they managed it to the woods,” Jin replied, as they turned away from the mess down in the mine.

“Glad to hear that,” they younger one breathed out. “Jack was in a pretty bad shape.”

Kuro, with his head high, let Jane pamper him, when they reached them.

“What a noble animal,” the brunette noted with a smile. Kuro pushed his head softly against her touch, making Jin frown a little. “You have my gratitude as well as your master,” Jane patted the stallion.

“You´re very welcome,” Jin reacted, winding the rope up around the saddle. “I had no choice anyway…”

Jane looked at him surprised: “What do you mean…?”

“Leo would have killed me if anything happened to you,” he grinned.

Jane couldn´t help but nod amused: “Where is he?”

“He´ll join us, I´m sure. He stayed above the mine for the moment.”

“Let´s get to the meeting point,” Kame suggested. “I hope that everyone will make it…”

“I´m sure they will,” Jin announced firmly and took Kuro´s bridle to lead him away. “I´m quite surprised how friendly to strangers you are all of the sudden,” he hissed into animal´s ear so that the other two could not catch it.

Kuro snorted, blowing warm air from his blowholes at Jin´s face softly.

“And don´t think you can reconcile with me so easily…”

*

Jane was definitely amazed with Kuro, which seemed be a very wise animal, but despite that the firm embrace above the valley didn´t escape her attention. She eyed both youngsters curiously, as they just stood there for a while, their figures black on the background of the dimming glow from below and they looked so… fitting like that.

Suddenly, she even felt that she disturbed something what was not her business and looked away quickly, right before they separated.

 _Jin and Kame are really close to each other_ , she pondered thoughtfully, as she followed them on the way down the hill on the other side of the mine _. No wonder Leo already trusts Kame, since his older brother is so much into him…_

***

 

It was close to midnight, when the rescue group finally gathered in full numbers, including two freed Riders. Leo was the last one to pop out from the darkness; his appearance finally releasing the tense atmosphere, in which the others waited within or outside the small cave. Ryo and Carl lowered the prepared colts, as soon as they recognized their leader in the light of the torch they made.

“Took you long enough, Bro,” his older brother welcomed Leo, and sat down on the old stump again.

“Leo… Finally,” Ryo breathed out in relief too.  “I almost went to look for you.”

“Is everybody here?” was Leo´s first question, as he ran his eyes over one after another carefully, before he headed to Jane, who was cleaning the bloody wound on Jack´s head carefully.

“Yeah, we all made it,” the black-haired Rider announced cheerfully. “But we had some devil luck, really…”

The brunette raised the shining eyes to her lover, when his strong hand squeezed her shoulder and smiled at him.

“How is he?” Leo asked.

Jack opened his so-far-closed eyes and gave him a quiet reply instead: “I´ll be fine, Chief, I have a quite thick head.”

“Yeah, I´m sure you have,” Leo reacted in a significant tone.

Jack fidgeted, suddenly seeming to be the misery itself: “I´m sorry, Leo, really I´m… It was my fault we ended up here… It was stupid…”

“It definitely was,” Esler´s strict voice, though not as firm as usually, confirmed the young Rider´s statement.

“Cullen…” Leo turned to the older man, who sat on the opposite side of the cave, cowering under the thick blanket. “I´m really glad to see you alive.”

“I´m quite pleased to find myself out of that hole too,” Cullen murmured. “Thanks for not giving up on us,” he added then.

“You didn´t really think I would to that, right?” Leo reacted. “Anyway, you should thank to everyone… Mainly to Jin and Kame.”

Cullen raised his eyebrows, and looked outside the cave at the two mentioned: “Really?”

The older Akanishi was sitting there smoking, while Kamenashi was crouching right next to him, preparing another torch for Jane to have a better look at the wounds of the rescued Riders. Both of them raised the eyes upon hearing their names.

“Yes, those two figured out a plan how to get inside the mine with that fake beer delivery,” Leo didn´t mention that Jin argued quite fiercely about taking Ryo´s place under the cart, and gave up only after Kame himself said he would be calmer if Jin took the position above as a sharpshooter.

“But the rest of it was your job, Brother, you don´t have to credit us so much,” Jin noted grinning slightly.

“Well, anyway, thanks…” Cullen reacted seriously, not letting his eyes off the two.

Akanishi brothers´ faces acquired very similar satisfied expressions after those words.

“And I thank you so much too, of course,” Jack straightened up, just to be forced back to lean over the wall by Jane. “Really, guys, you´re great. I thought we were going to die over there…”

“No wonder when you attacked the guards with a spoon,” Patrick reminded him gleefully.

“It was my only chance!” Jack defended his foolish idea.

“Stay calm, or you can treat this awful hole in your scull yourself,” Jane scolded him, while the other Riders chuckled amused, but Leo´s expression remained serious.

“One more thing… To blow up that dynamite – whose was that idea?” the Riders´ leader asked.

Kame gave the lit up torch to Patrick to hold it above Jack first, and then he turned to Leo: “It was mine…”

“And do you have any idea what you actually did?” Leo asked in a strange voice, looking Kamenashi in the eyes.

Jin finished his cigarette and slowly stood up; waiting for what was coming next.

“What do you mean?” Kame asked confusedly and the others looked at Leo curiously too.

“The explosion disrupted the pillars in the mine. Shortly after that the whole entrance collapsed,” Leo announced.

“Oh, damn… We heard some strange noise back then…” Ryo breathed out.

“It seems that a whole night shift of workers got stuck in there,” the leader continued. “And somehow I doubt they will bother to get them out.”

Kame´s face turned awfully pale. He opened his mouth wordlessly and closed them again, not knowing what to say. Suddenly, Jane stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It was a good idea, Kame,” she said firmly. “We couldn´t know what it would cause.”

Jane was right, but Jin saw Kame´s face; he already knew that expression the younger one made. Kame started to blame himself for those lives, which were probably lost in the dark hole.

“I did it with him,” Jane turned to Leo then, somewhat defending silent Kame. “We might have thought of better solution, but in that situation, we…”

“You don´t have to justify it, Jane,” Leo cut in quickly. “We went into this knowing it will cost some lives. It´s just that… They were criminals but also _people_. I thought you should know about this…”

Jane´s face darkened, while Kame still said nothing. The others glanced at each other, not knowing what to add either. The strange silence made Leo speak again.

“I don´t blame you… You all did great and I´m glad you´re all right,” he stated, trying to soothe the edge of his previous statement. “That´s what matters… So, you two,” he looked at Jack and Cullen. “Are you able to ride for a while? I´d like to be out of there already.”

***

 

The spurs clung sharply at the clash of the high black boots with the ground. The broad-shouldered, yellow-haired man with evil eyes threw the bridle of his horse over the railing at the manager´s office and crossed the messy yard with a few long steps. He stopped at the corner of some ugly shed and lit up a cigarette, observing quite an unexpected view on the space in front of the mine´s entrance.

Both workers and their guards were carrying around tons of smaller or bigger stones thrown all around, probably trying to get some order in it. The entrance of the mine itself was half-collapsed, supported by some hastily-made pillars. The slaves, who were not chained, were pulling out some dirty bodies and also accompanied a lot of staggering figures, who looked half-dead as well, but at least they were able to move.

Math Grenet had already heard a lot of about this mine, but he didn´t expect it to be so fitting its name. Though it seemed the curse would influence him in a not very bad way… The guards at the driveway informed him about the night´s explosion and runaway slaves, so he brought along his ´workers´ just in time. But it was good he left them waiting guarded by his gunmen further away from the mine; if they saw something like this right at their arrival, they wouldn´t have been very eager to ´work´ there.

Grenet finished his cigarette first, before he headed back to the office, from which some angry voice could be heard.

“Not only that you´re lazy bastards, you´re also idiots!”

The smirking gunslinger entered the huge room on the ground floor, finding a line of shaking slaves kneeling in front of the sturdy man with deep-red face. His shining eyes focused on the newcomer.

“´Morning,” Grenet touched his hat, shifting it a little bit back from his face. “I suppose that I arrived just in time, manager.”

“Grenet,” the angry man remembered, as they had already met each other once. “What do you want here? I´m sure you noticed I´m busy.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Grenet grabbed the first free chair he found and threw his legs on the table. “Don´t worry, I´m here to solve at least some of your troubles.”

“Ah, really? What the fuck you know about my troubles?!”

“I´d be more polite if I were you,” Grenet´s eyes narrowed. “It seems you´re short on workers after the last night.”

“Obviously!” the manager snapped.

“I´ve got more than dozen people, who will be definitely more than hard-working. I´m sure we can negotiate a good prize, if you calm down a little.”

The manager approached the visitor and lit up a cigarette for himself and for him too: “Now you´ve got my interest. Who are they?”

“Some naughty Sioux. Muscular, I´m sure you´ll be satisfied.”

“Where have you got them?”

“Not far, I can bring them within an hour.”

“Great… It seems we can make a deal, Grenet.”

“Sure.”

Both men shook their hands and Grenet stood up again.

“You have a great timing, that´s for sure,” the manager said. “We had some night over here… Let the Devil take those Riders!”

Content, smoking Grenet eyed the man more curiously now: “The Riders? It was them who made such a mess?”

“Yeah, we´re pretty sure about it. All of those useless scumbags said the same so far – they were young, with black scarves over their faces. I don´t know what the fuck was their intention, but I lost ten men and more than thirty slaves fled,” the manager continued complaining.

“That sucks,” Grenet admitted. “They have quite a name already, don´t they?”

“Somebody should clench their pip already,” the still red-faced man grunted. “Anyway, it´s great you brought some substitute now.”

“I´ll bring them right away,” Grenet nodded and turned to leave.

The man in charge of the Cursed Mine stomped across the floor back to the shaking slaves.

“So, once again, you good-for-nothing scum! Is there anything else you remember about them?”

“I really don´t know, sir…” one of the slaves replied almost tearfully. “They had their faces covered, what do you expect me to say!?’”

“To hell with your excuses,” manager kicked him to his ribs.

“Wait, wait, I remember something, sir! I know!” another one yelled, just when Grenet crossed the threshold.

“What is it?!”

“One of them was called ´Kame´.”

The leaving gunslinger stopped in middle of another step.

“Is it useful, sir?” the terrified slave pleaded. “I didn´t want to run away, really, they forced me. Can I get more food for that today?”

The hopeful expression on man´s face was replaced with pure horror, when the gunslinger returned to the room and grabbed the remains of his shirt. Grenet dragged the slave up on his feet with insane glow in his eyes. The manager stared at the scene surprised, but didn´t try to stop Grenet.

“What did you just say?!”

“I… I... just asked… for… more… I didn´t want…” the slave almost cried now for real.

“No, you idiot! That name!” the gunslinger sprinkled the poor man´s face with saliva. “Repeat that name!”

“Kame… One of them called… the other Kame,” the blabbering answer came from the terrified man.

The silence fell on the room, as the horrific gunslinger went numb, still staring at the slave, but not really seeing him.

“What is this about, Grenet? Do you know him or what?” the manager spoke first.

The slave fell down on the ground, screaming in pain, as he twisted his ankle at the impact. Grenet ignored it as well as the manager´s curious question.

“Bloody hell…” he murmured in amazement. “So, he _is_ with them after all…”

Even Cameron considered it highly unlikely – somebody like Kamenashi to involve himself with the criminals on the run. They thought he let Tanaka go from the fucking goodness of his heart, not to mention they were not sure that the blonde one really belonged to the Riders, as that cheeky bastard was just full of stupid jokes. But now it made much more sense. If Leo Akanishi was a younger brother of that greenhorn ass from Montana and Kamenashi was seen among them, the older Akanishi was definitely a part of it as well.

Grenet´s lips spread in a wide smile, as the individual pieces fell in together perfectly. They were so stupid they didn´t put it together right away. What other reason Kamenashi would have for a journey to south if not to help out his dear friend Akanishi? It was only natural he ended up in the Riders´ company.

“Grenet?” the manager stared at the man´s expression almost frightened.

“No big deal, manager, I had just found out that I have a very, very good day… I´ll be right back with the Sioux and we can…”

“Boss!” one of the guards rushed inside the room interrupting them. “Sheriff is here with some gunmen and people from Leadville! Somebody leaked the info about the mine!”

“Hell… If Watson is here, I doubt anything will come from our business, Grenet,” the manager cursed upset. “He wants to close this mine forever.”

The gunslinger´s smile faded: “Well… Not to mention I´d better make my very inconspicuous departure now… I guess you´re right.”

“Yeah, you better do that…” the man nodded. “I´ll let you know if we need any work force from now on.”

“Fine,” Grenet agreed and rushed outside for his horse, before the men of the law could spot him in there, while the manager was already yelling again at the guards to haul those slaves back to the barracks.

Still, the ruined business could not spoil Grenet´s good mood. Even though he didn´t know the exact location, he was the closest to finding that pretty brat since the moment Danny spotted him in Fort Collins. And that was worth of even two more useless trips like this one…

He just needed to think about the next step carefully, he didn´t want to startle those two in advance…

*

 

“We´re leaving back to Laporte! Now!!” the order woke the guarding gunmen from their lazy doing-nothing. “Get your asses to the saddles!”

“But why?”

“What happened, boss?”

The glade located two miles north of the Cursed Mine got lively with confused men.

“Stop asking me the useless questions and move it!”

“But, boss! What about those Indians?”

“Get rid of them, of course!” Math Grenet reacted immediately. “There will be no business in the mine, Sheriff arrived there. And I´m not going to drag them back!”

The group of sitting Indians listened to the exchange of yells in the temporary camp of Grenet´s gunmen, most of them understanding the words. And just like that, their hope of escape flew away with the approaching men, who drew their weapons. The only one of their brothers, who was finally able to release his hands from the strong ropes, while they were waiting, retreated into the shadows of the trees, before he could help the rest of them.

The wide eyes filled with sorrow and horror watched as the white men slaughtered the defenseless brothers of the Sioux-Lakota tribe. The young Indian held himself back for the whole time; he realized that if he tried to help them, he would have been killed as well. No, he couldn´t do anything, he had to escape, he had to return to his tribe and avenge the awful death of his fellow warriors.

His eyes flooded with rage at seeing the motionless bodies covered with blood. For the last time the Sioux eyed the white gunmen and their leader, who murdered the people from his tribe, remembering each and every inch of their faces. Wordlessly prying to the Great Manitou, he swore revenge in his mind; before he sneaked off between the trees, quiet as a shadow.


	23. Affection

**A** solid and spacious cottage, isolated from any other civilization by deep woods and rocks, was surrounded by the waking nature. The warm sun beams were quickly melting the morning frost on the tree branches, making the ground under them wet and the air damp. Even some birds were already singing cheerfully, hopping between the falling drops, which were sparkling on their way down from the tree tops.

Jin peeked out from the barn, checking on the temperature first, before, satisfied with the result, he went outside and didn´t even bother to button his coat up. He stretched in the sunshine, deeply breathing in the fresh air. He slept for quite long after their adventure in the Cursed Mine, as they arrived to their refuge late in the afternoon, but the other guys hadn´t got up yet either. With the exception of Kazuya of course, as after waking up, Jin had found his sleeping place empty.

He focused his eyes in the direction of the corral for horses, confirming his suspicion– the slim figure was moving among the noble animals, probably grooming them. Jin just stood there watching the younger one from a distance for a while, before he set off towards the house.

To his pleasant surprise, the kitchen was already filled with the fragrance of hot coffee, and Leo was sitting at the table with his girlfriend. They were attached to each other so closely that they almost sat on one chair. They were literally _giggling_ over there and that amused Jin a lot – he didn´t expect his younger brother to ever make a sound like that.

“´Morning, early birds,” he grinned at the couple. “Would you mind if I take some coffee?”

“Help yourself, Jin,” Jane smiled in a way, which made her face look so much younger, that he would have never guessed she was older than Leo. “I made enough for everyone.”

“I think it´s you who´s unusually early,” the Riders´ leader noted, copying his brother´s expression. “So far only Kame´s showed up.”

“Let them have some rest,” Jane looked at him, pleading playfully. “They deserve it. And it´s _so quiet_ around here without them…” she added, snuggling under Leo´s arm.

“You´re definitely right, my dear,” Jin´s brother agreed, caressing her shoulder slowly.

“Uhm, I think I´ll bring one cup to Kame,” Jin announced, taking two full mugs from the table.

Those two lovebirds didn´t even seem to notice he left; they were probably very happy about the fact that they were both all right and together. Jin could imagine they had quite a lovely night. Unlike himself, whose only night´s pleasure was sleeping and knowing that Kame was right next to him.

 _But that was definitely not enough_ , he thought gloomily, as he approached the wooden fence.

The younger one was not grooming anymore; Jin saw the brush forgotten at one of the columns. Kame stood with his eyes closed right next to the white mare, with his face pressed against her big head, and his fingers kept running up and down her neck slowly. Ukushi stood there motionlessly, her own eyes half-closed as well. It almost looked like they talked to each other in a way. Kuro was observing them from a careful distance and he just nodded his head at his master´s arrival.

Jin didn´t let the other one know about his presence, but Kame seemed to notice it anyway, as he suddenly opened his eyes, looking at him directly, and those eyes were very deep, with dark circles under them. Jin almost sighed, but he suppressed this sign of annoyance and smiled instead.

“Coffee?” he raised one mug.

Kame patted Ukushi for one last time and approached the fence from the other side, taking the warm mug into his hand, also stroking Jin´s fingers during the movement.

“Thanks…” the younger one sipped from the liquid and then leant his elbows over the fence, right next to Jin´s ones.

“You didn´t sleep very well, did you?” Jin noted, observing that tired face closely.

Kame avoided his look, before he replied: “I´m fine.”

“I didn´t ask about that,” he informed the younger one. “Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Blaming yourself.”

The brownish eyes finally repaid his sharp glance: “I know that I couldn´t predict what would happen, Jin. That cave-in is a consequence I must bear, that´s all,” Kame stated, but his forcefully calm voice couldn´t fool Jin so easily.

“You are _so_ _not_ convincing right now, Kazuya.”

The younger one frowned. He put the mug aside on the wooden column and clenched the fence firmly: “What do you expect me to say?”

“The truth. You keep thinking that, don´t you?”

“What?!”

“That it was your fault. That you´re responsible for anyone who might have died in that mine.”

“And isn´t _that_ the truth?!” the younger one finally snapped, releasing his emotions.

“Try again,” Jin reacted; now he was the one being calm.

Kame opened his mouth and then shut it again.

“Anything could happen to any of us,” the older one spoke, noticing an opening in that offensive attitude. “You just wanted everybody to get out of there alive. It so happened that people died. Well, I´m sorry but they die _every day_. You weren´t the one who chained them and forced to slavery. So stop with this martyrdom or I´ll make you,” he stated looking right into Kame´s eyes.

The younger one was fighting for a while, repaying Jin´s stare, before his shoulders lowered in defeat: “I know you´re right, Jin… I… I just cannot help it…”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” he murmured, not surprised at all. “Then let´s do something about your over-worked brain.”

Kame raised his eyebrows questioningly: “What do you mean?”

“Do you see anyone in the windows?” Jin asked, embodied innocence.

The younger´s eyes glanced towards the cottage behind Jin´s back: “Well, no… But why…?”

Kame didn´t finish his question, as his shirt was suddenly grabbed by a strong hand. He was pulled forward and his mouth locked by the warm and greedy lips. Jin kissed the younger one with urgency which stole his breath.

Pulling away, Jin found Kame looking at him wide-eyed.

“Not enough,” he assumed and captured the younger one again, caressing the lower lip first, then the upper one, before he added his tongue to the treatment and forced its way through inside the warm mouth, giving Kame a deep kiss, intentionally releasing his desire, which he usually tried hard to suppress.

When he eyed the other´s face this time, Jin smiled in satisfaction. Kazuya stood there with his eyes closed, his wet lips partially open, and his expression somewhat dazed.

Jin let his coat go: “ _Now_ try to think about stupid things…”

The yellow brown eyes opened and the slim hands so far squeezing the fence reached out, closing around Jin´s neck. The older one dropped his mug, which he took to sip on some coffee, to the grass, when Kazuya´s lips pressed against his this time, repaying the kiss hastily and hungrily, burying fingers into his skin. Jin didn´t need more encouragement to join in it again.

*

Kame let himself be engulfed in their kissing, eager for that excitement and high feeling which really made him forget about everything else but Jin. It was almost overwhelming to feel how Jin eagerly repaid his action, his lips sucking out anything negative from him and awaking the desire for more…

A not very gentle nudge from the side made Kame tear away from the greedy response of his lover. It was Ukushi, who snorted at him, her big eyes eyeing them both. Jin literally stared at the animal for that disturbance, but Kame already ran his eyes around them, discovering that the other guys had already got up as well and they had just left the barn.

Jin turned in that direction too, his face acquiring an annoyed expression seeing the reason for Kame to retreat.

“Thank you, Jin…” a quiet statement made him turn to the younger one again.

Kame was soothing Ukushi now, but he was smiling at him. And the annoyance in Jin´s face literally melted away, when he saw the younger´s shining eyes…

***

 

Koki raced his horse ahead, ignoring the low twigs, which flicked over his hat from time to time. The Rider´s usually cheerful face was contorted with worries, which were caused by the folded newspapers in his pocket.

 _I should have gone to that damn mine with them, but no – they had to keep all the fun for themselves, right?_ Koki was trying to be sarcastic in his mind, but in fact he was really worried about what exactly happened with the rescue group. Just sitting on his ass in the city, with that uncertainty eating him up, it was unbearable; he could not wait to check on the situation personally…

Finally, just shortly before the sunset, he spotted the lines of their precious cottage amongst the trees and the cheerful voices reached him, coming from the spacious porch. The blonde Rider stopped the perspiring animal just two meters from the building and stared at the gathered company, which welcomed his arrival merrily.

Hastily, Koki counted one individual after another and found everyone except Nick. _Everyone_ , including Cullen and Jack. They all sat there on the available chairs, or on the wooden railing in case of Ryo and the older Akanishi, and the table in the middle served them as a tray for a row of glasses and big bottle of something what was definitely not the water.

“What are you standing there for?” Leo called out from his place at the head of the table, sitting with his back to the wall, which served as a rest to his girlfriend as well.

The blonde one sucked some air inside his lungs, jumped down from the saddle and crossed the space separating him from the porch in a brisk pace.

“You must be kidding me!” Koki exclaimed. “We´re dying of worries down in the town, while you just sit here… drinking!” he eyed the tempting table, trying to cover his envy.

“Why are you so upset, man?” Ryo wondered innocently. “Don´t you see? We´re in full numbers again!”

Esler just kept enjoying the cigarette, comfortably sprawled in the best armchair from the cottage furniture, while Jack, with a darkening bruise on his forehead but still grinning widely, showed two thumbs-up to the fellow Rider.

“Sure, I _can see_ that. It´s great to have you back, guys…” Koki suppressed his frustration for a moment, as he waved at the two rescued men. “But it´d have been really nice if you had let the rest of us know!”

“We´ve already sent Nick with the message – you had to pass each other,” Leo informed him.

Jane stood up from her seat next to the young leader and smiled at Koki comfortingly: “I´ll go to get you a glass, what do you say? You seem thirsty...”

“He _always_ is,” Ryo noted and the others joined him in the amused laugh.

“That´s just great…” the blonde one grunted. “It´s _so nice_ to make fun of somebody who was worried about you. Knock yourself up.”

“Come on, Koki, no need to be so grumpy…” his black-haired companion scolded him playfully.

“Maybe I wouldn´t be, but you´ve created quite a fuss… Here, you can read it yourself,” Koki threw the newspapers, dated the previous day – the 10th March, on the table.

The wrinkled papers landed in front of Kame, but he didn´t seem to be willing to reach for them, so Jin, sitting right behind him, leant forward and took them instead.

“What does it say then, Koki?” Leo asked calmly, as he started to pour the third round of drinks for everyone.

The blonde Rider pulled the hat off and leant his elbows over the railing: “In a nutshell? That you helped convicted criminals, whose punishment was to work in that mine, to flee and caused an explosion, which took many guards´ lives. That the Black Riders are dangerous bandits and the top priority of the Marshals should be to catch them, preferably dead than alive. Is it sufficient for you as a summary, Chief?” he asked caustically, earning a pretty sharp glance from his leader. “Sorry, but we couldn´t know what happened with you from that article, guys… That reporter made it sound quite dangerous…” Koki murmured, defending his attitude.

“It _was_ dangerous, you can bet on that,” Patrick assured him; with his best buddy Carl nodding gloomily.

Ryo patted the blonde head: “Be glad you were not with us.”

“So, it´s true? Did you blow up that stock of dynamite over there?” Koki asked wide-eyed.

Leo´s eyes turned to silent Kame before he replied: “Yes, it was necessary for us to get out of there…”

“Nice…” Koki appreciated almost admiringly. “I´d love to see that.”

“It also says that they managed to get most of the _workers_ out from the collapsed mine alive,” Jin spoke suddenly, making Kame turn his head towards him. The older one was still holding the newspapers, reading the article. “Just a couple of them died, some were injured… And I think they overstated that number of deceased guards quite a lot. I´m sure we didn´t hit so many of them fatally,” he grunted.

“This will make us quite a name…” Ryo assumed, grabbing one of the prepared drinks for himself and the second for Koki.

“How many?” Leo asked his brother, now more seriously.

“Twenty dead, twelve injured…” Jin announced. “That´s ridiculous! There wasn´t so many of them in the first place!”

“I agree…” Leo nodded.

“Our dear brothers, there were even _more_ of them, you just didn´t notice in your enthusiastic shooting,” Ryo informed them.

“Any complaints?” both Akanishis pierced him with their eyes at once.

“Not at all,” the Rider assured them hastily, but kept smirking nevertheless. “Both of you, our precise shooters, have my never-ending gratitude.”

The rest of the group willingly murmured their agreement, while Jin returned his attention to the newspapers.

“The interesting fact is, that somebody brought the Sheriff from Leadville over there and he ordered a shutdown of that mine,” the older Akanishi continued pulling out the information printed on the thin paper.

“Wow, that´s what I call good news,” Jack reacted excitedly.

“That´s even a better outcome than I expected,” Leo noted with surprise.

“Except that they had also increased the reward on your head,” his brother said, putting the newspapers down. “It´s three thousand and five hundred dollars now…”

Leo finished pouring the whiskey into the last glass, which Jane just brought, in deep silence.

“Anything about the others?” he asked then, for the moment ignoring the worried looks of everyone.

“Not much it seems…” Jin replied. “Nothing apart from what was already known. They think there were at least eight of us and they assumed we got somebody specific out, but with the numbers of all those runaways they have no idea whom.”

“Nothing even about me?” Jack asked in astonishment. “I thought that since I worked in that casino…”

“No, nothing…” Jin shook his head.

“Good,” Leo nodded.

“I wonder what is so _good_ about all that shit they wrote,” Esler reacted frowning.

“They didn´t find your identity despite you two being arrested,” his young leader pointed out. “That´s what.”

Esler grunted something inaudible.

“And we will drink on that!” Patrick announced, raising his glass. The others followed his example and soon the whiskey disappeared down their throats.

“Good… Very good…” Koki stated satisfied. “But hey, I want one more! I have some catching-up to do with you!”

“But don´t do this too quickly, buddy,” Ryo reminded him mockingly. “I will not drag you to bed this time.”

In the common noise created by Koki chasing the bottle, which went from hand to hand around the table, Jin leant forward again and gave the newspapers to Kame.

“See? Not everything is as bad as you always think…” he murmured quietly, when the younger one took them.

Kame read through the front page just casually, admitting to himself that only now he was quite relieved, when they got to know what really happened after the mine cave-in. He already wanted to put the newspapers away, when one more article attracted his attention. It said that the local woodsmen discovered fourteen dead Sioux Indians in the north of the city; apparently, they were shot to death.

“Hey, what´s up now?” a deep voice asked right next to his ear.

“Nothing,” Kame folded the unhappy news and put them aside. “It´s nothing important…”

A similar slaughter kept happening every day in the Wild West; it was nothing what he should be concerned about. But still, it made him feel somehow uneasy… What would such a big group of Sioux do so far from their usual hunting grounds? And according to the article, there were no white people casualties, as if the Indians didn´t even fight back. It was just strange… But he didn´t see the point in bringing out another serious topic.

“I think you should drink more on that _nothing_ of yours,” Jin decided. “Leo, pass that bottle to me! We need to toast properly on our successful mission!”

His younger brother didn´t have any objections against that and gave the whiskey to him right in front of Koki´s offended nose. Then the young leader pulled Jane closer with his free hand instead, which soothed the deep worry on the brunette´s face. Even Kame had to smile at Jin´s strict expression with which he placed a full glass in front of him.

The Riders cheerfully clang with their drinks, laughing when Koki ostentatiously didn´t and drank it in one go as the first. Nobody wanted to be serious that evening, just Esler still seemed to be concerned as he eyed the newspapers at the table. He didn´t like that they forgot about the situation they were in so easily.

“Leo… What do you want to do now?” Cullen´s serious tone made the leader turn to the older Rider, though he would obviously rather continue whispering something to his girlfriend´s ear.

The other youngsters stared at the oldest man in their circle quite spitefully for breaking the atmosphere with the heavy question, but Esler ignored them and he kept looking into Leo´s eyes.

“I know we need to discuss what to do next, Cullen,” Leo admitted slowly. “But let´s rest for now, we all deserve it and you two need to recover. We´ll have a meeting with everyone later on…”

Cullen could not help but notice that their leader was really tired and worried, though he tried to cover it. Many things happened too quickly one after another, but for the moment they were safe and he had to admit that a proper time for getting their strength back was important too. The bounty hunters wouldn´t go anywhere and neither would Horace Tabor.

“Fine then…” he nodded, trying to forget his pessimistic thoughts. “You´re right… Akanishi, it´s my turn, give me that bottle,” he turned to the older brother with a high-handed gesture.

After those few drinks they already had, the youngster didn´t even take it any personally and handed over the mentioned liquid to the older man, grinning at him.

“I´m all in for resting as well, guys,” Jane noted, watching Esler pouring the drinks this time. “But if we´re going to stay here for a while, we need to do some shopping in the city.”

Leo nodded sharply: “All right, we´ll dispatch another rescue group tomorrow, dear. To prevent us from starvation this time.”

“Hey,” his girlfriend smacked him over the shoulder. “It´s important…”

“I know it is, that´s why the rescue group,” Leo smiled, obviously getting in the high mood. “I accept all volunteers!”

“I´ve just arrived, so not me,” Koki stuck his tongue out, and leant over the table suddenly. “Give that to me already!”

The blonde one started pulling the bottle away from Esler, but he held on to it and growled at the younger Rider warningly. But in the end the older man let it go unexpectedly and the sudden lack of opposite force sent Koki to the ground, as he staggered back a few steps and ended up with his ass on the boards of the porch, causing everybody else to burst out in laughter again.

*

Kame observed the friends gathered around the table with a small smile. Somehow, it felt really nice to be in their company now. The previous mistrust towards him was forgotten. After their mission in the mine, it was clear that both he and Jin were totally accepted by everyone, even by Esler, who stopped sending his hostile stares after them, and that made Kame feel better than he would have admitted aloud. It was about to be a very cheerful evening for the Riders and their helpers.

Enjoying the warm after-effect of alcohol, Kame leant back, to settle himself more comfortably in the chair and glanced to the side, not surprised when he found the dark brown orbs there. The smile was playing also at Jin´s lips; the older one´s thoughts were probably very similar to his.

When Jin kept their glances locked, Kazuya forgot about the others a little. There was that shine hidden in them, which always brought shivers into his stomach. It was so incredibly good to be with Jin, no matter the troubles they had to go through; no matter that they were surrounded by unwanted witnesses all the time. For Kame, having that look upon himself, it was worth of even more…

*

Both youngsters got lost in the other´s eyes for a while, and because of that they failed to notice the curious observation of Jane, who kept watching them from the other side of the table, or the side-way look which Esler paid them, without hostility, but with the hesitation still in them.

*

Jin enjoyed the carefree atmosphere a lot. Some of the Riders could be very annoying, as Esler with his haughty attitude, or Koki with his unexplainable attachment to Kame, but in overall he really started to like them. It was a cheerful bunch of guys, who were able to accomplish any stupid ideas and Jin found that quite likeable. He was sure that Yamapi would have fitted among them pretty well too. But no matter that chatting and drinking with everyone was enjoyable, he was determined to use the first chance to get away from them for a while… And not alone.

Paradoxically, it was thanks to Koki, whose clingy friendliness towards Kame almost always spoiled Jin´s mood. The already very cheerful blonde Rider mentioned that some dinner would not be a bad thing, on which Jane reacted with a wide smile, pointing out that there were two bags of potatoes in the cellar, so that he was free to prepare them for everyone. But Koki insisted that Kame should be the one to cook them, because he could make them the best way. And he was practically immediately supported by the others, who were part of their trip to Ohio.

Ryo, Koki, and even Leo howled in chorus so pleadingly that Kame almost begged them to stop and stood up from his seat, which was appreciated with the shouts of joy. The younger one shook his head wordlessly and slipped around Jin, touching one of his knees on the way.

Jin watched as Kame crossed the veranda and disappeared inside the house. He felt a great urge to jump up and follow him right away, but he kicked himself to stay still for at least a short moment…

“And you just let him do it alone?” Jane scolded that satisfied bunch frowning. “Very nice of you, really.”

“He didn´t complain!” Koki defended.

“Just probably because he doesn´t want to hear your whining,” Ryo countered mockingly.

“And you call yourself my friend?” the blonde one pouted. “What about supporting me once in a while?”

“You don´t need it, Goldilocks,” his buddy announced grinning.

Jin slipped down from the railing, sooner than anyone else might have thought of really going after Kazuya and poured the whiskey from a new bottle into their glasses.

“I´m going, so you can sit your asses out here,” he announced caustically.

“Since when you´re so eager to cook, Brother?” Leo asked curiously, with Jin already leaving. He let the question without reply.

*

A jingle of one glass to another made Kame raise his head from the potato that he had just started to peel. The older one of Akanishi brothers was standing in the door, leaning over the frame casually, a little overgrown hair framing his face darkened from the drinks and he looked even more handsome than usually.

The stare, which Jin was giving him, was warm but somewhat _greedy_ and Kame´s heart skipped a beat, as he sank in it. He could blame alcohol for his overreaction, but that was only one part of the truth. Kame took a slow shallow breath to tame his pulse and glanced at the drinks in Jin´s hands.

“I think I´ve had enough for one evening,” he murmured, but didn´t sound convincing even to his own ears.

“No ranting, Kame, we deserve it,” Jin stated relentlessly, moved forward and stood up above him. “Not to mention I came to help you so you cannot turn me down.”

Kame sighed a little and put the small knife away. When it came to the stuff like that, Jin could be _very_ persuasive. Not to mention that the whiskey, which Esler provided from his personal supplies, was really a good one. They both gulped the liquid down in one go and Jin headed to the cupboard to grab some plate and knife.

“Can you heat up the stove first, please?” Kame asked him, already peeling again, though he had to focus on it more now, with the alcohol making him feel relaxed, but also influencing his movements.

“Anything for you, Kazu~…” Jin chanted and went to fulfill his wish. Kame eyed his back with the narrowed eyes – Jin seemed to be in a playful mood…

When the older one sat at the table opposite to him, Kame ostentatiously ignored him, peeling the potatoes as if his life depended on it. By the corner of his eye, he noticed that Jin was trying to catch his look, but he resisted. Probably offended, the older one imitated his absorption by work.

The cheerful voices could still be heard out on the veranda, but the kitchen turned very quiet, except for the cracks of the wood and the husks falling down to the bowls. As if he only wanted to change the position, Kame shifted with his legs and straightened them forward, so that one of them ended up leaning over Jin´s ankle.

The older one stiffened and looked at him again, but Kame just continued peeling, as if nothing unusual happened. Jin suddenly smirked, being dragged into the little game.

“It seems they all trust us now, right?” he broached the topic calmly, not moving even by inch, pretending he didn´t feel Kame´s warm closeness at all. “Even Esler.”

“Yes,” Kame agreed, taking another potato from the big pile. “It was really risky, but I´m glad it all turned out so well… They´re not bad guys.”

“You showed yourself in quite a good light over there…” the older one stated, not without pride. “You always amaze me with something.”

“The same counts for you, Jin… You´ve got a wonderful sight.”

“Thanks, I used to train a lot…”

“Hmm, what do you think that your brother plans from now on?”

“Hard to say what in specific, but I doubt they will give up on their little war against Tabor.”

“And what about us then?”

Jin raised his eyes and this time he found Kame looking at him.

“What are we going to do?” the younger one repeated the question seriously in a quiet voice.

Jin pondered about it for a while, before he replied: “What about we follow the order of my brother and leave this discussion for later, after we´re rested? You doesn´t seem to be very willing to discuss serious stuff right now, anyway.”

“What makes you think so?” Kame asked innocently.

“Because you´re flirting with me instead,” Jin informed him.

He felt Kame´s leg moving a little, rubbing against his. Probably all those drinks made the younger one skip his usual distant attitude, and Jin was more that satisfied with that effect.

“You think you´re _so irresistible_ , don´t you?” Kame reacted with a strange smile.

“I am,” Jin reacted confidently. He grabbed Kame´s wrist above the bowl with the ready potatoes, before he could retreat with it and leant forward. “But you are even more…” he added in a deep voice.

Kazuya didn´t try to release from his grip. Jin saw how his eyes shone in the light of the lantern above them and how his lips parted a little, so attractive and just created to kiss them…

The light steps in the corridor made both of them flinch and return to the peeling work.

“Oh, my God, you´re really doing it,” Jane came inside the kitchen with a wide smile and bottle in her hands. “I´ve never seen any of those super-Riders to be so hard-working,” she announced as she poured some more whiskey into their empty glasses.

Jin kept his eyes low on the potatoes, pressing his lips together, as he didn´t trust himself enough to talk without being unpleasant to the brunette, while Kame thanked for both of them.

“It´s not such big problem,” the younger one assured Jane.

“You´re great, you two,” she sighed honestly. “I´ll help you out a little, ok? Koki´s stomach keeps growling so loud it can be heard to the woods.”

“Sure, thanks, Jane,” Kame nodded smiling, but carefully avoided looking at Jin…

*

With Jane´s help, they were done much faster with the preparations. The brunette left the kitchen then again, leaving the rest of cooking to Kame, who was already picking up the seasonings. Jin stood up from the table as the last one, threw the husks into the trash and washed his hands in the prepared basin properly, glancing towards the stove.

Kame mixed the mountain of clean potatoes in the huge pan with the salt and plenty of herbs, and put it inside the heated up stove. When he turned around, he almost ended up shoving into the older one, that close he stood behind him.

“So… You were _not_ seducing me this evening?” Jin asked huskily.

Kame gulped down heavily, noticing that shine again, which felt like burning him.

“Well… Maybe a little…”

“Really? I´ve got a notification for you then – even _that little_ worked.”

Quite roughly, Jin pulled the younger one closer for the hem of his shirt and locked his lips before he could utter another word. Kame shivered when Jin´s greedy tongue broke through into his mouth, exploring it eagerly. It cost him quite an effort to tear himself off.

“Jin!” he breathed out. “We…” next words got stuck in Kame´s throat, as he noticed the dark fire in Jin´s eyes.

“What? Did you want to say something?” the older one asked hoarsely, still holding his shirt.

Honestly, Kame couldn´t remember.

“Nothing?” Jin noted. “Good. Because I don´t want to talk right now.”

Placing both hands on Kame´s shoulders, the older one pushed him backwards towards the passage to the biggest room of the cottage. It was dark there, the remaining coals in the fireplace were giving out only a little of orange light. They could still hear the others from the outside, but Jin didn´t seem to be bothered with that and he pressed against the younger´s lips again, as soon as they were out of the reach of the light.

With his heart beating heavily, and with the senses flying out of the window, Kame wrapped one of his hands around Jin´s neck and the other around his waist, searching for the balance he almost lost, when his knees weakened under the sweet pressure. Kame would love to be kissed like that forever.

They spent days together now, but it was not the same as actually _being_ together. Concealing the true nature of their relationship gradually became more difficult for them both. Even though the older one seemed to be dealing with it well, Kame could feel a hint of desperate urgency in Jin´s kissing, which made him realize he wasn´t the only one missing their mutual contact greatly.

He felt the strong hands tightening around his body, when he gave in to his own desire and sucked on Jin´s lips, as if he never intended to let them go again. Still in a firm embrace, they staggered a little. Kame pulled away and glanced around the room. Then he pushed Jin back uncompromisingly and made him sit into the spacious armchair next to the dying fireplace.

Jin almost started to protest against the younger´s escape from his arms, but Kame followed him right away and ended up sitting in his lap with knees bent over the seat next to Jin´s thighs. In the dim light Kame could see how Jin smiled and circled both arms around his waist again, obviously satisfied with the new position.

Kame caught his breath, when he felt the fingers burying into the cloth of his shirt. He ran with his own to Jin´s hair, leaning closer, but not touching him yet. He felt Jin´s breath on his lips, when the older one approached, but he retreated back.

“Stop playing with me…” Jin whispered.

“Why should I? You like it,” Kazuya replied, circling a strand of Jin´s hair around his finger.

Jin huffed a little, but then a smirk spread on his lips: “You will regret it. I can play too…”

Kame shifted in his lap teasingly: “I´d love to see that… But,” he added quickly. “We need to leave that for some other time…”

Jin sighed deeply and kind of annoyed. Then his head lowered and he breathed in a scent of Kame´s shirt. The younger one embraced him, burying his nose in the pitch black hair.

“We cannot let this go too far now, Jin,” Kame reminded the older one, when he felt the teasing fingers slipping under the cloth of his shirt, where they started creating small circles on his skin. He totally loved that affectionate touch, but he was still aware of the fact they were not alone. “The others…”

“I´m more than well aware of the others,” Jin interrupted him murmuring, not ever stopping moving his fingers. “But we have a couple of minutes at least, don´t we?”

Jin raised his head, looking at him, and Kame felt his throat getting tighter just under that look.

“At least fifteen, before the meal is ready,” he agreed hoarsely. “Unless they come to check on us…”

Jin replaced one of his hands at Kame´s face to prevent him from moving away.

“They have no reason to…” he whispered and didn´t let the younger one escape from another longing kiss.

*

Leo was really happy to see everyone around him enjoying the drinks and carefree chatting. They got out from just another adventure alive and he couldn´t care less about any rewards or bounty hunters when all his friends were around him. And when the familiar hands squeezed his shoulders gently and started massaging them slowly, he thought it could not have been more perfect.

“Hey! Hey! What about our dinner?” Koki requested from Jane, who seemed to care only for Leo´s comfort.

“If you want to eat them raw, suit yourself,” she informed him stiffly.

The blonde Rider sprawled himself in previously Kame´s chair with a groan: “I´m hungry…” he complained, which earned him a smack over head from Ryo.

“Some patience would do no harm to you. Be grateful that the guys even bothered to prepare something.”

“I´m sure that Kame-chan wouldn´t let me die from hunger, unlike you,” Koki snorted.

Ryo laughed: “Yeah, he´s too nice for that…”

“I agree,” Jack joined in, not without admiration. “I´d even say he´s awesome. You said it yourself, right? That mostly he and Jin got us out of there.”

“They fit in among us well. Don´t you think, Leo?” Ryo´s suddenly sharp eyes focused on their leader.

“Yeah, definitely…” Leo agreed in a serious tone.

“But I´m not sure if they realize it fully…”

Everybody looked at Esler, who was still smoking, and suddenly spoke up too.

“What do you mean?” the young leader wondered.

“That at the moment they accepted those black scarves, they practically became a part of our group, don´t they?” Cullen replied.

Leo repaid his look for a while, and the others waited for his response.

“Would you have anything against it?” he asked then.

To his surprise, Cullen shrugged: “Well, if they continue like this, they will be wanted soon enough themselves…”

“That´s true; they can´t deny they are willingly helping the wanted bandits now…” Patrick noted.

“As for me, I´m happy they´re with us,” Jack murmured.

“No wonder,” Koki chuckled. “I feel the same about it.”

“There might be a small problem though,” Jane spoke in a quiet voice, checking on the closed door shortly. “I don´t think they really want to join us…”

Leo turned his head to her: “What makes you say so?”

“Don´t know,” his lover sighed. “Just the feeling.”

“It doesn´t matter if it´s our feeling or not,” Cullen spoke again. “Soon they won´t even have a choice, you know that, Leo. We´re not in the situation we can allow ´outsider-friends´.”

“I agree,” Ryo joined him a little heavily. “They either leave now or join us permanently. You should talk to them.”

Leo frowned: “You all know they helped us out a lot. I don´t want to push them into anything, neither drag them to the other side of the law completely without reason.”

“Only recently you told me something else,” Esler reminded him harshly.

“I changed my opinion,” the young leader replied stiffly.

“Ah, sure, you want to protect your precious brother, right?” the older man figured. “Let me tell you something – he wants to protect you too and he won´t leave so easily. So, I suppose you´re kinda stuck in the dead point.”

The heavy silence fell onto the porch, which was so different from the cheerful atmosphere before.

“Cullen is right, Leo. We need to solve this soon,” Ryo said in the end.

“I will talk with them tomorrow, ok?” Leo grumbled, already really very tired. “Jane, please check on them, what´s up with that dinner…”

“Sure,” the brunette soothed Leo across his shoulders, before she entered the cottage again.

*

Jane agreed with Cullen in everything he said, that was not surprising. What she didn´t expect from herself was that she really wanted the two of them to stay… In comparison with how she didn´t trust them on the beginning, as well as Cullen… But it was so good to see Leo with his brother. Jin was his only family, and this side of her lover, when he became so cheerful and competitive; she got to know only now. She liked also Kame, his composure and wits, despite him being so young. And since they really helped them a lot… It was always better to have more people on their side than less.

The brunette entered the kitchen, thinking if she should tell something to them in advance, or leave it to Leo, but the room was empty. Jane looked around in surprise. There was only a nice smell coming from the stove, but nobody at it. And then she caught some whispering voices from the next room – the saloon.

Jane frowned a little, realizing that it might be them. What reason they had for hiding in the dark, just when they praised them so much? Did they really plot something, as Cullen thought before? Normally, Jane would not spy on her friends, but both the older Akanishi and Kamenashi were still somewhat unknown elements in their group.

She walked across the kitchen on her tiptoes, and reached the dark passage just when the voices died out. At first she thought they would come out, but when it didn´t happen, Jane carefully glanced over the corner. It took a while before her eyes accustomed to the gloom in the other room and then she finally saw them… As two dark figures in the background of dim orange from the fireplace, in the armchair and…

Jane´s eyes widened and she retreated so quickly that she hit her head over the wall behind. After a couple of heartbeats she was sure that they didn´t notice her. Nothing was heard from there except… Except the soft sounds of cloths, as the limbs shifted over each other and the lips…

Damn… Couldn´t she be mistaken thanks to the dark in the room? No, she recognized them even better than she would like to – Jin was sitting in the armchair with Kame in his lap and they were… kissing.

Jane felt her cheeks burning over the scene she was not supposed to witness. So that was it… That was the perfect explanation of their sometimes-so-weird distant behavior or on the other hand, the attempts to end up together alone anytime there was a chance. They didn´t plan anything against the Riders or Leo in secret, they just wanted to be _together_. Now she knew why that affection between them seemed to be so… strong. They were not only friends.

As quietly as she could, Jane ran from the kitchen and stopped in the corridor, trying to gather her thoughts. It wasn´t like she never heard of man-to-man relationship, or… it wasn´t even the first time she saw two men kissing each other. On her family´s farm, there were a couple of cowboys, who were kind of weird, as they were never interested in their free days, when they could visit the town nearby with its brothels…

When she pondered it for a while, she was not even surprised. Now everything what she ever considered weird about Jin and Kame made sense to her. Oh, yes, to her, but not to the others… There was no way they would have noticed anything, for that the two played their friends-acts too well. And also… she had no right to tell on them…

Jane sighed deeply, wondering just why everything always had to be more complicated… It was clear they wanted to keep their cover and it was no wonder. Most of the people thought about what they did to be wrong and sick. Even she didn´t know what exactly to think about it now. It was not exactly normal, but the sight of Kame and Jin in each other´s arms didn´t repulse her. It was the same as above the mine, when they hugged. It was as if it was _right_ like that.

There was no point to stir the matter, which was not her business so… She decided to keep it for herself for the moment and let the things go their own way. Coming back to the porch, she returned behind her lover´s back.

“They will be here in a minute,” she assured everyone, but didn´t dare to look at anyone directly. And she just hoped they really would appear soon, before somebody else, for example hungry Koki would go search for them…


	24. Messenger

**T** hree ice cubes, already slowly melting, clanked as the Lieutenant Governor put the glass aside on the wide windowsill, letting the bittersweet liquid find its way through his throat down to the stomach, where it spread all over with calming warmness. A half-open window allowed the pleasantly cool air to infiltrate his office, which was a little overheated to his taste. He could also hear loud shouts of the errand boy in front of the Brown Palace hotel, who stood at the foot of the main stairs and kept forcing the newest issue of ´The Denver Post´ to hands of each guest passing by.

“Dozens of outlaws on the run! Black Riders stroke again! Reward for any useful information increased!”

With quite a satisfaction, Horace observed the people stopping on the street, reading the newspapers and discussing the recent events. The excited and outraged atmosphere ruled over Denver. Everybody wanted to share their opinion with others, and those discussions were not positive towards the Riders at all.

Tabor stepped away from the window and poured himself another drink from the rich mini-bar. Those naive Riders played right into his cards with that crazy ambush. They turned most of Colorado against themselves even without much of his interference. The more upset the citizens were, the smaller chance for those criminals to slip between his fingers was. As things were, everyone would want to capture them even without any reward soon.

No matter that it was impossible to find out whom they wanted to get out of the mine, because they definitely did - Tabor could imagine no other reason for them to care about that place - the outcome in overall was positive. Though - he had to admit – his profits from the so-called Cursed Mine were really significant and thanks to that over-motivated Sheriff he was cut off from it. Not to mention a couple of sniffling reporters and local authorities, who dared to come and ask him questions. Somebody talked and he would need to find out who that was – to make an example out of that person.

Horace didn´t like the idea of great decrease in his incomes, but if one of the consequences would be having the Riders or at least their leader in chains, it was a small prize for the reduction of all those troubles they caused him. Also Duggan and that haughty bounty hunter reported some progress and he expected them to contact him again soon, supposedly with more than good news. The invisible loop around the gang gradually tightened and he was sure that just a little more patience would bring the expected results.

A light knock disturbed Tabor´s thoughts and he turned towards his servant curiously; he didn´t expect any visitors.

“My apologies, sir, but a certain Captain Walker is here, asking for reception,” the black servant announced.

 _Today is a good day_ , Tabor thought. It seemed that the US Army finally decided to pay an attention to his constant requests for backup to the local Marshals, who, at least according to his opinion, were a bunch of useless idiots.

“Let him in,” he beckoned, heading to the spot in front of his table to welcome the captain.

The uniformed man, who entered his office, was tall, fair-haired, recently shaved, with the sharp eyes and he was younger than Tabor had anticipated, no more than thirty years.

“Welcome, Captain,” he shook with the man´s hand. “Have a seat.”

“I´ll rather stand, if you don´t mind, sir. I´ve got too many hours of sitting already...” the man reacted in a tired voice, but still politely.

“A long trip?” Governor asked.

“Very.”

“Serve yourself then… I´m pleased you´ve arrived finally, Captain Walker.”

The soldier raised his eyebrows: “You expected me, sir?”

“I definitely expected a reaction from your superiors sooner...” Tabor reacted a little caustically.

“Unfortunately, I´m afraid I will not satisfy your needs, Governor,” Walker announced.

“What do you mean?” Tabor frowned.

“My superiors are aware of your demand, though I´m just ordered to meet with the local Sheriff for the latest news, and assign the sufficient number of my men to back up the Marshals. But I´ll travel with the rest of them further to the north.”

“I´m afraid I don´t understand, Captain,” Governor pierced the man with an unsatisfied glare. “You didn´t come here with your unit to put an end to that unfortunate issue with the Riders once and for all?”

“No, sir, not personally,” Walker replied stiffly. “But I´m sure that an additional manpower…”

“What else do you need to do that it´s more important than catching those awful criminals?”

The expression on Walker´s face turned quite cold: “There´re also other issues, which request an attention of the Army as well as of the Government, sir. I´m sure that you´re aware of them.”

“Be specific, Captain.”

“We´ve received dozens of reports about Sioux Indians escaping their confinement in the reservation and raging around towns and farms, burning and killing on sight. When we add that recent slaughter - which still remains unexplained – to the whole situation, we´re afraid that it might lead to another war. I was sent to Colorado to prevent any new bloodshed, sir.”

Lieutenant Governor disliked the tone, which the soldier used – it made him feel somewhat inferior.

“Of course that I´m well aware of other urgent issues. But to remedy the insufficient force, which is available for chasing after those wanted gunslingers…”

“…is the primary task for US Marshals,” Walker cut in his upset speech calmly. “That´s why they were established in the first place. Of course that we will support them as much as we can, but that´s as far as the Army can go.”

“Captain Walker…”

“I just follow my orders in this case, Governor. I was supposed to report the presence of myself and my unit in Colorado and inform you about our task. We need to bring those Indians back into line. And now, if you excuse me, I´ve got another appointment. Have a nice day, sir.”

With his teeth clenched, Tabor watched as the captain saluted, turned on his heels and showed himself out of the door. He didn´t assume that the unexpected visitor would spoil his mood so much. The Army headquarters didn´t pay an attention to his requests – that happened for the first time ever.

Damn soldiers, they thought so high of themselves still, no matter how much time had passed since the Civil War. And was it only him, or Walker seemed to be almost satisfied that he had another task than dealing with the Riders?

***

 

A young elk stood still for a while, its blowholes shivering as the animal tried to catch any suspicious scent, which would disrupt the fresh air of its home. But the glade on that side of the brook was absolutely empty and peaceful. Not like the opposite bank, where the elk recognized the most dangerous odor it got to know so far – the human´s scent. The elk retreated from there, quickly enough it seemed, and it could enjoy the late breakfast now.

The tall, light brown owner of still rather small antlers, which were supposed to get much larger that year, stepped on the glade flooded with the faint sun light, which reached that hidden place through the thick crown of conifers above. The animal leant its head down to the first layer of grass and moss, which indicated the real start of the spring season.

The elk didn´t even realize something was wrong, when there was a sudden hard hit right into his chest and something horribly cold reached its calmly beating heart. The petite legs gave in, as the animal fell, with its muzzle still full of bracken. Its ears shuddered just once, faintly hearing a sound of someone approaching, but the darkness got to the elk sooner than the hunters…

*

To his amazement, Jin found out that watching Kame on the hunt was almost fascinating. The youngster moved through the forest as if he was a natural part of it, not disrupting its peace, but adapting to the surroundings in a way, which the older one was not able to achieve.

Very soon Jin realized that for the success of their task it was better to follow Kame´s steps, as the younger one was always able to suspect a possible catch in advance and stopped their progress before his clumsier companion could startle it. As they were, Jin could enjoy the sight of Kazuya shooting the young elk.

The handsome hunter stood beside the tree, his stance firm and motionless, and the expression in his face was so… calm, as he fully focused on the target. One of Kame´s hands was raised forward, while the elbow of the second one high as he hold the bow taut for a couple of seconds, before he released the arrow to send it with the lethal precision right into the animal´s heart. Jin just couldn´t tear his eyes off him, until Kame put the bow down.

To the general surprise, they had found the bow and some arrows in the barn, among other very useful supplies, which Oswald left behind for their use. As for how the man obtained them remained a mystery to them. Anyway, Jin couldn´t help but notice that Kame was really glad about putting the firearms away for a while and used the opportunity right away, as their company separated into three groups.

While Leo with Jack remained at the cottage, Jane with Carl and Patrick set off to the city for necessary supplies. Jin himself with Kame, Ryo, Koki and quite stubborn Esler, who insisted he was fed up with slackening around, headed to the woods for a whole-day-hunt, with the intention to catch some meat to feed the bottomless stomachs of certain members of their group.

The others carried the rifles, including Jin, who exceptionally let his precious revolvers hidden back “home”. He had them along almost all the time, since Kame had managed to get them back for him from Captain Walker, who took them from Grenet during the man´s arrest. But they would be inconvenient for the hunt. Not to mention that it seemed he would have no use for the rifle either, since Kame was so precise with arrows…

“That was pretty damn _perfect_ , considering how you worried that you´re out of practice…” Jin murmured admiringly, as they headed to the spot of the last breakfast of one elk.

Kame smiled: “It´s a good bow, very similar to those which are used by Indians in the north. Otherwise, I´d have some problems getting used to it.”

“Recently, I really wonder just what can turn out to be a _problem for you_ ,” the older one reacted a little caustically.

Kame pondered his remark for a while, before his eyes gathered some mischievous shine: “You,” he said then.

Jin froze on the spot: “Hey…” he breathed out in a hurt tone.

Kame glanced back over his shoulder: “Only from time to time, no need to worry about that really,” he assured the older one innocently and continued walking.

Jin followed him to the fallen animal sulking in silence. Kame already managed to check on the animal being really dead, ripped off the arrow from its chest and put the bow aside, before Jin even caught up with him. The young gunslinger observed the bloody wound closely – it was a clear shot, the elk couldn´t even realize what was happening.

“I forgot to add…” Kazuya approached him with a playful smile suddenly. “That you´re my most pleasant and enjoyable problem ever…” he finished the statement with caressing Jin´s lips in a slow tender kiss, which left the older one quite dumb founded. When Kame retreated, he reached after him, but the younger one avoided his attempt and pointed at their catch.

“We´ve got a job to do…” he announced.

“It seems to me you slept very well this time,” Jin noted, still a little insulted, but despite that liking the way Kame teased him.

“It could be better,” the younger one replied as he took out a small axe from Jin´s backpack.

“How comes?” he wondered.

“ _Someone_ kept trying to slip under my blanket.”

Jin´s jaw dropped in shock: “What? Don´t tell me that annoying blonde bastard harassed you in the night…!”

Koki was the one sleeping next to Kame from the other side that night and just that idea made Jin furious.

Kame burst out in a heartily laughter: “No, Jin, what are you thinking? It was you,” he informed the older one. ”I had quite a hard time to push you back on your mattress in the morning, before somebody could wake up and see _you_ harassing me.”

Jin stared at the younger one and felt his cheeks getting unusually warm: “Really? But… I don´t remember… that…”

“I figured… You were half-asleep,” Kame reacted still amused.

“Sorry…” Jin murmured. “I didn´t mean to…”

“It´s all right!” the younger one assured him quickly. “I wasn´t cold at least,” and he gave Jin a smile, which made the older one forget his previous mood right away.

*

They disemboweled the entrails and separated the head right on the spot, leaving it behind for pumas, wolves or any other wildlife. Then they took turns dragging the elk´s body on a few long branches towards their temporary camp, where they planned to skin it, clean up and prepare for taking it back to the cottage.

The other three hunters were not back yet, but they heard two very faint gunshots somewhere in the northerly direction, so they probably had some luck as well and would appear later.

Cooperating, Kame and Jin managed to finish the most of the dirty job quite quickly, so after washing their hands in the brook under the camp they ended up adoring the nice view from the hill. Admiring the surrounding woods, and drinking on some coffee that Kame prepared, they had a moment of peace and quiet for themselves.

With the time, Kame treasured those moments more and more. They didn´t have to say or do anything, it felt good enough just having Jin on his side. But unexpectedly, this time it was the older one who started with the heavy topic, which they subconsciously tried to avoid that day.

“It seemed to me this morning that Leo wants to talk with me…” Jin said slowly, while observing the sea of conifers under them. “I think the rest of the group discussed the situation last night as well, when we weren´t there.”

Kame looked at Jin´s serious face a little surprised; usually it was him breaking the peaceful atmosphere with serious question and conversations.

“When we will talk, I want you to be there too,” the older one stated firmly.

“Of course, if Leo isn´t against it…” Kame nodded.

“He won´t. This problem concerns both of us, right?” Jin seemed to be eager for some assurance from his side, and Kame willingly gave it to him.

“I´ve already said this before, Jin – I´m with you no matter what.”

“Even if it means that we´ll become ´wanted´ too?” his worried lover asked in a deep voice.

Kame didn´t reply right away. So, Jin had realized it as well. It was already painfully clear where that whole thing with the two of them helping the Riders was heading to – no matter how careful they were, soon they would considered as ´official´ members of the gang and that could not be taken back.

“Yes…” the younger one said finally. “But we should try a different approach first. We should try and persuade them to stop this crusade against Tabor. That man is a Lieutenant Governor, Jin. He is able to send a battalion of soldiers after the Riders and that won´t end up nicely.”

“Yeah, I also think that they might listen to us now at least,” Jin agreed. “It´s too risky to go against someone like that… Even though I understand their reasons.”

“I can understand that too, but… If we go with them to the open war against that man, there would be no way back anymore.”

Jin kept looking at him for a while, with a deep emotion in his eyes, which Kame could not decipher. Then the older one raised his hand and took the end of the black scarf wrapped around Kazuya´s neck into his fingers.

“Kazu… Do you think there´s still a way out of this?” he asked seriously, soothing the cloth slowly. “After everything what we did with them? After that mine?”

Kame stiffened a little. He didn´t fully realize it, until Jin said it, or he didn´t want to, but they really got themselves involved too deep. They both killed for the Riders already. No matter if it was self-defense, didn´t it make the criminals of them as well? Not to mention that they already considered most of the Riders as friends… And according to everyone´s behavior, it was not only one-sided feeling.

And it that case, was there even any space left for keeping their distance? Hardly. And Jin got to be aware of it even sooner than him… Kame closed his eyes, feeling somehow defeated.

“You´re right,” he admitted heavily. “There´s not any...”

“So, we´re in this with them no matter how they decide, right?” Jin probably gathered the courage to resolve the question of their attitude once and for all and Kame was glad it was him saying it.

“Yes,” he reacted quietly, with his mind heavy, knowing that this could turn out as a pretty long trip to Colorado and Liwan popped up on his mind, as well as the rest of the tribe. Who knew when he would be able to see them next time?

When he felt a gentle tug on his scarf, which he accepted a few days ago without much thinking, Kame opened his eyes, just to notice a glimpse of Jin´s relieved expression, before the older one´s lips gave a gentle peck to his.

Kame frowned a little: “This felt like a ´thank you´, but I assure you that´s not necessary, Jin…”

Hearing those words, Jin´s face brightened and then he leant down to Kame´s lips for the second time. That kiss was longer, deep and demanding, as Jin didn´t let go of the scarf and held Kame close. But he stopped right when Kame parted his lips, leaving him with the quickened heartbeat and desire for more.

“How did this felt?” Jin asked grinning a little.

“Damn hot,” Kame informed him fiercely, grabbed both lapels of Jin´s coat and dragged him back to the no-distance from him, taking on the challenge and capturing the full lips, which left no space for Jin to grin anymore.

The older one allowed Kame to have an upper hand for hardly a moment before his arms circled around the younger´s slender form, capturing him in a tight hug and his tongue slipped out teasing Kame´s lips, until they parted with an eager sigh.

From some reason, at that moment, Kame was hit with the happy realization that no matter how many times Jin kissed him, it always had that warm and exciting effect on him. Quavering a little, he let himself being overwhelmed by the possessive attack, feeling so safe in those strong arms and did his best to pay the older one back with the equal urgency.

Jin noticed how Kame snuggled inside his arms, shifting against his chest a little and fighting for space in their kiss and it made him feel… really lucky. Sometimes, he wondered if he should not fight that attraction towards the younger one somehow. But Jin already knew he wasn´t the only one being affected by the presence of the other so much, so it was all right, to feel so hungry after Kame´s lips and skin, as well as after the whole body.

Engulfed in their connection, the couple failed to notice the approaching voices first, but a laugh resonating somewhere between the trees finally made them rip their lips apart and look around, in the direction of the camp more than twenty meters away from them. The other part of their group was nowhere in the sight yet.

“They´re coming back…” Kazuya breathed out with his lips full and red, and started to disentangle his fingers from Jin´s hair.

The older one snorted something inaudible and ignoring Kame´s efforts to step away, he shifted with him a little and made the younger one lean over the nearest tree. Holding him there, he peeked out from behind the trunk.

“Jin! What are you doing? Let me go!” Kame urged on him in a hushed voice.

“I won´t let us be interrupted every damn time,” there was a growling response from the other one, before he prevented Kame from more objections by pressing against his lips again.

Kame pushed against Jin´s chest, hearing the voices of three men getting closer; they were probably already in the camp. When the older one finally let him go, Kame gasped for breath to say something, but Jin was faster.

“They will notice us if you keep pushing me away,” Jin informed him whispering, with one palm pressed against the tree next to Kame´s head, and with the other on his shoulder, while his breath heated up Kame´s cheek. He stepped as close to him as possible with one foot between the younger´s boots.

Kame watched Jin´s face wordlessly, feeling his resistance slackening, as he let the older one cover him almost completely. Just like that, pressed between the firm body and the tree, Kame felt imprisoned in a way, but it awoke a very nice reaction in him at the same time. He raised his hands, slipping up with them, caressing both sides of Jin´s neck and shifting the hair away with the move. The older one´s skin was hot and his pulse a little off, as Kame´s fingers ran alongside his jaw.

“Hey! Guys! Where are you?!” the calling, which they recognized as Ryo´s, was heard.

“Kame-chan!!” Koki joined him right away. “I want to show you my catches!”

“You want him to cook it for you,” his black-haired companion corrected him, still sharply enough for his words to be recognizable. “Jin! Kame!”

Totally ignoring the calls, Jin opened Kame´s cloak and hugged him around the waist. Very slowly, he leant his head down and placed a kiss on the younger´s neck. And then another, just a little further, and another. Kazuya sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying the tender treatment.

“Damn it, shut your mouths already!” finally, someone more reasonable cut into the furious callings of their names. “They´ll be somewhere around, the fire is still flaming,” Esler assumed.

“Shouldn´t we look for them?” Ryo wondered.

“Do what you want, but my feet hurt already,” the blonde one announced loudly. “I´m gonna sit here, on this pretty warm place and…”

“Wait for your favorite cook to come,” Ryo completed Koki´s response sarcastically.

“Both of you sit down and shut up for at least five minutes!” Cullen snapped. “My head aches from your constant talking already.”

Ryo answered something, probably insulted, but for the time being it seemed the hunters would remain close the fire. As they started to talk more quietly, the couple behind the tree couldn´t recognize the words anymore, but they probably wouldn´t even if the small group was sitting closer.

Jin already explored the other side of Kame´s neck too and ended it with biting his earlobe gently. He already knew that Kame enjoyed that ministration and smiled satisfied, when the younger one shivered in his arms. He loved teasing Kame like that, knowing that the younger one had neither strength nor will to refuse him.

Jin straightened and observed Kazuya´s flushed face with half-closed eyes, as he altered their position just a little, so that their crotches brushed against each other. No matter the layer of cloths, Kame gasped for breath and flung his eyes open. When he saw Jin´s expression, his eyes gathered a kind of dangerous shine. His fingers grabbed Jin´s hair and he uncompromisingly pulled his head closer.

“Just months ago, who would say that you would like teasing me so much?” he whispered hoarsely, just inches apart from Jin´s lips.

“You probably influence me more than you think, Kazu…”

“Really? Let´s confirm that theory then.”

With Kame´s hot lips attaching to his again, Jin threw any reasonable thinking out of the window. It was impossible to say who was kissing whom, as they tried to devour each other equally.

Kame felt the back of his head brushing over the hard bark under the demanding pressure Jin put on him, but he still didn´t let him have a full control. He couldn´t let him have it; his knees were already weak enough. He felt Jin´s hand reaching lower, finding a comfortable position on his bottom cheek, squeezing it a little. Kame moved away from that alluring touch and Jin almost threw with him back against the tree, surprising him with the increased urgency.

“Damn it, Jin,” he cursed hoarsely, when he felt the squeeze on his butt getting stronger and heard the older one´s breath getting heavier. “We can´t do this here!”

“I don´t hear you complaining much…” Jin reacted with a mischievous smile.

“They are just a few meters from us!” Kame whispered urgently. “Since when you´re so perverted?!”

Jin could help but smile even more widely: “Since I got to know your ass…”

Kame´s face turned even redder than before, as he stared into Jin´s eyes, trying to comprehend, if the older one was just making fun of him or he was serious.

“Stop teasing me or you´ll regret it…” he stated slowly.

“I don´t think so,” Jin disagreed immediately. “Let´s have a date,” he suggested suddenly.

Kame´s jaw dropped.

“I think I´ve heard something…” they noticed Ryo´s murmur from the camp.

“What?” surprised Kame asked really quietly now.

“You don´t know what that is?” Jin asked with a pretended surprise. “A rendezvous. Meeting or tryst, whatever. This evening, in the barn, after dinner. You can try to make me regret this teasing…”

“Hey, guys! Is that you?!”

The unwanted witnesses were the last thing what Jin needed at that moment.

“So? What do you say?” he asked hastily, already also aware they should finally appear in the camp.

Kame could not prevent a smile spreading on his lips, though he still felt a little over the head from Jin´s behavior. He didn´t mind him to be more daring at all, he just didn´t expect Jin to be so open. But it was a damn good feeling.

“Well… I´ll consider it…” he mocked the older one a little, as he leant closer whispering the words into his ear.

As a response, Jin joined the right hand on Kame´s butt with the other one possessively: “Don´t think I´ll let you go until you say yes…”

“I don´t like this… Have your guns ready, boys,” they could hear even Esler´s concerned murmur now.

“Come on, Jin… Like this, they´ll shoot us the second we appear,” Kame hissed, unsuccessfully shifting away from the older one´s grip.

“Say yes,” Jin insisted stubbornly.

“All right, _yes_ , we have a date! Satisfied?” Kazuya agreed, already a little impatient, but at the same time excited about that Jin´s lovely idea.

“Not now, but I will be,” the older one grinned and finally released Kame from his arms.

*

“Aah, look who´s here! Where have you been?” Koki exclaimed as soon as he noticed their missing companions popping out from the woods and with an obvious relief he lowered his rifle, as well as Ryo and Esler, whose faces were two big frowns.

“At the brook, to wash our hands a little,” Kame informed them sheepishly, while Jin followed him to the little campfire silently. “I see you had some luck…” the younger one noted the display of hares and fish.

“Sure, but it seems to me you had a bigger one,” Ryo remarked, pointing at their catch.

“We called you out; didn´t you hear?” Esler asked suddenly, his sharp eyes piercing Kame first, then also Jin.

The older one shrugged: “Yeah… I thought I heard some idiots revealing our position to anyone who might be nearby…”

Esler stiffened; too upset knowing that remark was reasonable that he could not think of a response, while Koki and Ryo chuckled over the reaction. Kame eyed the older one with an unreadable expression, smiling for himself. Considering how distracted both of them were just a minute ago, he was quite proud that Jin was able to provide such a clever answer.

***

 

Their beloved sanctuary grew unusually quiet after the departure of both the shopping and hunting group. But Leo didn´t mind it at all. No matter how he treasured his friends, brother and girlfriend, it was a relief not to deal with questions, serious significant glances and constant reminders of the situation, of which he was well aware. He didn´t want to think about _anything,_ at least for a while; he had already decided to talk with Jin and Kame as soon as they were back from the hunt. And they would make it work out somehow, he was sure about that.

“I´m surprised you didn´t insist on going along with them…” a voice of the only remaining of his companions disrupted Leo´s peaceful moment on the veranda.

“Someone had to stay and look after you. You´re supposed to rest, Jack,” the leader scolded his friend right away. “You know what Kame said – the concussion should not be taken lightly.”

“I know, I know,” the youngster sighed and slowly sat down next to Leo, completely wrapped in the thick blanket. “But I´m fine, just my damn head won´t stop aching…”

Leo frowned: “You shouldn´t have drunk so much last night; it didn´t do any good to you.”

“Come on, Leo, you sound like my mother! Or like Kame… You pay quite a lot of attention to what he says, it seems.”

Leo kept silent for a while, eyeing the peaceful line of the forest, which surrounded them.

“He has already deserved our trust,” he stated slowly.

“I definitely agree with you in that,” Jack grinned, but then his expression turned more serious. “Do you want them to stay with us?”

The younger Akanishi sighed deeply: “Of course, I do… But I know it´s selfish. I don´t want to drag them into my problems…”

“Thus, firstly, it´s _our_ problems,” Jack emphasized fiercely. “And secondly, don´t you think that if they would mind it that much, they´d have run away already?”

“Jin doesn´t give up so easily,” Leo murmured. “He had realized that he can´t turn me away from you guys, but still – he wants to stop me. Or more precisely - he wants us to stop our fight against Tabor.”

Jack pondered about his words for a while, before he spoke again quietly: “And do _you_ want to stop?”

The Riders´ leader looked at him with a surprise: “What makes you ask that?”

The other one shrugged: “There has been a lot going on recently and… I don´t know, but it´d have been definitely less dangerous if we didn´t poke a stick into a hornet´s nest.”

“What do _you_ think, Jack?” Leo asked, staring at him with an unreadable expression. “Do you think we should let it go?”

“I didn´t mean to ridicule our efforts or anything, Chief,” Jack replied a little defensively.

“Just tell me what´s on your mind,” Leo encouraged him. “We´ve agreed not to hide anything in front of each other, right?”

“Yeah…” the younger man seemed to be relieved hearing his leader´s statement. “So, I was thinking a lot, since you make me stay in bed almost all the time and… Is there even anything more we can do against Tabor? It almost feels like he´s untouchable.”

“We knew it wouldn´t be easy from the very start,” Leo reminded him, but not upset, he was talking calmly. “There are reasons for which we decided to fight against him. Did you forget what Tabor is responsible for?”

“No, I didn´t. But we´ve made a lot of damage already, so I thought… What about to hit some big project, like a safe in the bank and scram from the country? Tabor can keep Denver for himself as far as I´m concerned,” Jack said completely honestly. “We don´t have to sacrifice our lives too…”

Leo fell silent after that statement. He repaid Jack´s bright look for a while, before his eyes ran off to the woods again. Suddenly, the younger man felt really uncomfortable, as if he said something what he was really not supposed to.

“I´m sorry… Forget about it, maybe I think it over too much. We should not give up so easily… But it seemed to me that even Jane…”

Leo never got to know what Jack thought about his girlfriend, as the sound of a horse´s snorting and hooves revealed somebody was approaching. He hushed the other one with the raised palm, while he took the revolver into the other hand; Leo was immediately on a full alert. It was only early afternoon, too soon for the hunters´ comeback, and Jane was not supposed to return earlier than on the other day.

“That´s Nick…” Jack recognized the stooping figure with fairly brown hair in the saddle as the first.

Leo stood up with his eyes narrowed. He noticed there was something strange about the man´s arrival; it seemed that the horse was leading the way more than a rider. He scanned the surroundings of their cottage again, but nothing else felt to be out of order.

In the next moment Nick raised his head and even from that distance both Leo and Jack noticed how pale he was. The rider opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. Instead, Nick leant to one side and at the next moment he fell down from the saddle.

“What the hell…” Jack prompted himself up from his chair, while Leo was already on his way to the man. Dashing across those few meters, he already knew his bad hunch was correct; he was just damn afraid to admit it.

“Nick!!” Leo knelt down to one of his Riders lying on the back, looking at the sweated face first and then down across his body. Carefully, he opened the gunman´s coat, uncovering the strangely red color under it. Everything squeezed inside of Leo seeing the shirt soaked with blood. “What happened to you?”

Jack had already reached them as well, his blanket forgotten on the veranda, when Nick opened his eyes, trying hard to focus them on Leo.

“Shit,” the fair-headed youngster cursed, having the same view as Leo now.

“Leo… I´m sorry…” the words went over the man´s dry lips weakly.

“Just try to relax and tell me what happened,” Leo had a hard time to control his voice and he couldn´t do it with his hands – they shook heavily as he pulled the shirt up to see what was under it. It seemed as a deep cut; someone stabbed Nick into his side.

“They… They´ve got Jane… The others… dead. They… sent me…”

All the blood in Leo´s veins turned into the ice, as his brain processed the words. Jack seemed to be equally stunned.

“They waited for us… in tavern… Flow… talked…” Nick continued with obvious difficulties. “I returned… from shopping… too late.”

“Who?” the question dropped from Leo´s mouth like a stone. He even felt like he was one, staring at Nick without blinking. “Who did it, Nick?”

“Harvey… And… another gunman, familiar, but… don´t know… him… Here…” the bleeding Rider shifted with his hand and pulled some paper out from his pocket. “It´s for… you.”

*

Jack was so shocked, he couldn´t utter another word and just listened to the hoarse voice of his companion with a growing horror.

 _Jane captured? The other guys dead? Benny, Sherman, Ian, Todd, Patrick, Carl…_ _All of them were supposed to be in Leadville with Nick. What the fuck happened?_

He watched as Leo, who was now almost equally pale as Nick, took the paper and unfolded it. His leader stared at it for a while, turning into a barely breathing statue.

“Leo?” Jack leant forward, but he couldn´t recognize the words. “Leo!” he repeated more desperately. “What the hell is written in there?”


	25. Wanted man

**T** he members of the hunting expedition were heading back to the Riders´ cottage in the good mood.

 _Maybe even too good,_ Ryo thought, as he glanced over his shoulder, once again finding Kame and Jin cheerfully discussing the possibility for the older guy to learn shooting from a bow.

Even though those two were dragging the heavy load just as the others did, they didn´t seem to be bothered with it at all. They kept their distance, separating themselves from the rest of their small company, and their voices were no more than whispers, as they laughed over something.

Ryo would not mind if they shared some jokes with them as well, but Cullen was content with those two being further away and Koki was simply too focused on complaining over the heaviest load of them all. Therefore, the black-haired Rider just shrugged and let Jin and Kame have their little private talk.

*

 

When they reached their refuge, the sun was already touching the horizon and Cullen was the first one to notice that something was weird. Koki and Ryo didn´t pay attention to their older companion, who stopped at the border of woods surrounding the cottage and they just continued towards the barn arguing if it was better to try the elk meat for dinner or to start with the smaller catches.

“Hey! Shut up for a second!” Cullen hissed, making both youngsters turn back to him.

Kame and Jin finally caught up with them as well, looking at the frowning man curiously.

“What is it?” Ryo asked carefully.

“Don´t know, but something´s off…” the oldest Rider murmured.

Then Kame touched Jin´s elbow and wordlessly pointed at the corral behind the cottage - Kuro was running about from one side of it to another, shaking his head so vigorously that his mane had already turned into a complete mess. His behavior disrupted other animals too, and made them snorting nervously, while Ukushi was standing motionlessly in one of the corners, staring at the returnees.

The rifle appeared in Jin´s hands so quickly Kame didn´t even notice when the older one pulled it down from his shoulder. The younger one didn´t need any other sign to be sure that something was not right either.

“Now when you mentioned it, it´s suspiciously quiet around here…” Ryo noted frowning, while Esler got his rifle ready, being the second one to arm himself.

Then something on the ground attracted Kame´s eyes and at that moment, he regretted not carrying any firearm as well, not feeling so secure with just a bow.

“There´s blood in the grass,” he announced in a tense voice, which made everyone even more anxious.

“We´ll check the barn,” Ryo announced, following the others´ example with guns, as well as Koki, and both Riders set off towards the said building.

Leaving all their catches behind, determined Esler led the way to the cottage with Jin and Kame in his steps. Nothing moved in the closed windows, neither they heard anything. In quiet cooperation they burst inside the house, checking the empty rooms, ready to shoot at any time. When they met up under the staircase again, also Koki and Ryo came inside.

“Nothing suspicious in the barn, but Leo´s horse is missing,” Ryo informed them, both he and Koki a little out of breath as they rushed around the property.

Then all heads popped up at the sound of some heavy thuds on the wood.

“Hey!! Hey, guys! Is that you?!” the subdued calling was hardly recognizable.

“Ryo, stay down here,” Esler ordered. “Others with me.”

They rushed upstairs, approaching the sounds coming from behind the closed door with the key in the lock. Esler raised his gun to the height, where one would expect somebody´s head and nodded at Kame. The younger one swiftly approached the door and unlocked it, stepping away at once. The door opened and revealed the reddened face of Jack, who froze at the doorstep, looking inside the barrel of Cullen´s rifle.

“Damn it! Put it down, man!”

“What´s going on?!” Esler asked, lowering the weapon only a little.

“Nick… Message… Leo… Shit!” Jack cursed, desperately trying to gather his thoughts into words.

Behind him, Kame spotted somebody lying on the bed and he went around the helpless Rider to get inside the room, being followed by Esler.

“He was stabbed. I tried, really, but… That wound just doesn´t stop bleeding,” Jack finally gathered himself a little for explanation, while Cullen eyed the motionless and very pale Rider.

Nick´s stomach was covered with the thick, dark red bandage, which Kamenashi pulled away. It didn´t look very nicely and the youngster´s quiet curse didn´t let the older man doubt it was serious. Koki peeked inside the room from behind Jin, who stood in the door.

“What…?!” the blonde one breathed out frightened.

“So, once again,” Cullen made himself remain composed and not snap at the young Rider, who was leaning over the wall now, his clothes stained with Nick´s blood and his eyes wide. “What happened?”

“Nick brought the message… They´ve got Jane,” the youngster announced the most critical information, causing everybody to freeze in shock. “Leo locked me in here so that I couldn´t stop him and set off to Leadville.”

“What the hell?!” Koki exclaimed, expressing the loudest reaction of them all.

Jin clenched his free hand into fist, with the other still holding the forgotten rifle, but otherwise the older Akanishi reminded rather a statue. Esler gritted his teeth, cursing something incoherently, while Kame was trying to process the information and at the same time figure out, if there was anything he could do for Nick.

“Who? Who did it?” the question came from Esler´s mouth as the cold stone.

“That bounty hunter - Harvey and some other gunman… Nick didn´t recognize him,” Jack reacted unhappily.

“That fucker again?!” Koki snapped, hitting with his hand the wall next to the room´s door.

“When?” Esler asked another question. “When Leo left?”

“Approximately four hours ago. I didn´t realize what he intended to do, Cullen, really. Otherwise I´d try at least… I´m so sorry…”

“Hey, guys, I´ve found this in the kitchen,” Ryo´s concerned voice joined the uptight conversation.

Jin snatched the bloodstained paper from the Rider´s fingers and ran his eyes over it. Then, without any word, he turned on his heels, pushed both Ryo and Koki aside and stomped down the stairs, ignoring Esler calling after him.

Koki picked the paper up from the floor and read it aloud: “ _We´ve got your girlfriend. Come alone to Slabtown´s Tavern this evening or she will die just as your other friends did, only more slowly_. _Surrender and she will be free.”_

The blonde Rider looked up horrified. He, Ryo and Jack looked at Cullen with expectation, while Kame stared at the reddening bandage, torn between the urge to rush after Jin and stay with the wounded Rider. Esler kept silent for a couple of long seconds, before he turned to Kame.

“Koki said you´re capable in this - can you help him?” he asked, pointing at Nick.

“I know some useful medical things, but I´m not a doctor,” Kame replied hesitantly. “This is a serious injury and…”

“ _Can you_ help him?” Cullen repeated his question harshly, interrupting Kame´s excuse.

The younger one repaid the man´s urgent look for a while, before he nodded seriously: “I will try.”

“Fine. Jack – stay by his side and assist with anything necessary. Ryo – you´ll help me to prepare everything for a harsh, fast trip. Koki – make sure that the second Akanishi won´t disappear in the dust alone as well. We will leave _together,_ ” the oldest Rider emphasized.

Kame was relieved by that statement; he could rely on the others to keep an eye on Jin, as Esler figured out the older one´s possible reaction himself.

“Let´s move!” the temporary leader concluded his orders. “We can cry over the spilled milk later.”

*

 

With all his fingers sticky with blood, Kame finished the last stitch of the deep stab wound in Nick´s side. The bleeding had already stopped and he really hoped he managed to do it on time, as the Rider´s pulse was already very weak. Just when Kame put aside the needle, which Jack had found in Jane´s sewing kit, the angry voices from the outside reached to them even through the closed window.

“Damn it! Akanishi! Can you stop just for a second?!”

“Let me go!!”

Hastily wiping his hands with one of many bloody towels, Kame straightened up from the table in the kitchen, to where they moved Nick from the upstairs, and then forced the disinfection into the hands of quite pale Jack.

“Clean it up properly, got it?”

He didn´t even wait for the Rider´s reaction and rushed outside. Already in the door, in the dim light of one lantern, Kame could see exactly what he was afraid of - Kuro was waiting right under the veranda, fully prepared for the ride, while just a few meters away, Ryo, Esler and Jin were shouting at each other. Koki was sitting on the ground, massaging his jaw and piercing Akanishi with a not very friendly glare. Jin had just shoved harshly into Ryo, and turned against Esler, but the older man was not an easy nut to crack.

“Calm down!” Esler requested from the younger man, definitely not for the first time.

“I won´t let him kill himself!” Jin snapped furiously, totally ignoring the rifle in the Rider´s hands.

“None of us will, you stubborn idiot! But we cannot just rush there like blind sheep!”

“But we´re wasting time here! I´m going _right now_!”

Literally pushing the lethal barrel away with a bare hand, Jin turned away from Esler, obviously intending to go for Kuro´s reins. Instead, he almost bumped into Kame, who already managed to get himself between the horse and the upset gunslinger. Saying nothing at all, Kame locked their eyes together. Jin froze and his expression darkened.

“Not even _you_ can stop me,” the older one announced hoarsely.

“I´m not trying to stop you, Jin. I only want you to _slow down_ ,” Kame reacted in the calmest tone that he was able to bring out. Jin was close to the real outburst, his face stiffened in an almost terrifying expression, the anger and fear for his brother swirling in his eyes. Nevertheless, they had to snap him out of the first impulsive reaction, or the whole situation would turn out to be even worse.

“Kame… Just get out of my way,” Jin´s tone was only a little less harsh than the one he used towards the others, but Kame didn´t let it discourage him. Esler, Ryo and Koki – they all stood behind Jin´s back ready to stop him by force, but he didn´t intend to let the situation end that way.

“No. You´re not going anywhere alone,” he stated relentlessly.

“He´s my brother and I won´t let him sacrifice himself like this!” Jin gritted through his teeth.

“None of us will,” Kame assured him. “We´ll gather everything necessary and set off together. Just wait a little bit and…”

“He left _hours_ ago!” the older one didn´t let him finish the sentence. “He´s probably in the city already! There´s no time to waste!”

“You won´t help him if you´re dead, Jin!” Kame raised his voice as well now. “It´s already dark! One bad root can be enough for you or Kuro to break your necks on the way down!”

Jin took a deep breath, but didn´t argue with him this time. Kame stepped a little closer and squeezed his shoulder.

“You cannot do this alone and you know it. We will get them back, but only together.”

Jin closed his eyes, saying nothing. But he was straining himself, Kame could feel it.

Esler approached them with a dark frown: “Even if he gives himself up, they won´t execute him right away,” he stated slowly.

“Yeah, why would they bother with kidnapping Jane otherwise,” Ryo noted. “They certainly want him alive.”

“And Leo knows it too, I suppose,” Koki added, still staring at Jin.

“We have some time to help him,” Kame finished the persuasion line.

When Jin opened his eyes again, Kame knew they won this ´fight´.

“All right, I get it…” the older one breathed out defeated.

“I hope so,” Esler noted ironically. “Sometimes you seem to be very slow-witted, Akanishi.”

Jin´s look towards the man was almost poisonous, but Cullen didn´t seem to be bothered by it.

“Come and help us to prepare everything necessary. You´re the one wasting our time now.”

Kame wouldn´t be surprised if some steam came right from Jin´s nose, as Esler with Ryo walked back towards the barn. Koki eyed him very coldly, before he followed them as well. Kame slipped with his hand up on Jin´s face and made the older one look at him.

“It will be all right, Jin,” he whispered. “We just cannot lose our wits.”

The older one repaid his look for a while, before he covered Kame´s hand with his own for a short moment.

“Thank you, Kazu.  And I´m sorry…”

“Don´t be. It´s totally understandable you´re worried about him.”

“I should not yell at you though…” the other one insisted.

Kame smiled a little: “Don´t worry, Jin, you can´t scare me off so easily.”

*

 

They were all packed and ready in less than an hour. Unconscious Nick was resting upstairs again, still alive, but Kame openly told everyone that the Rider´s condition didn´t look very good. They assigned Jack to stay with him, as the youngster didn´t recover fully yet. Everybody else armed themselves to the teeth, got supplied with torches and anything else that they might use during the dangerous trip through the night woods down to the city.

Nobody talked much about what they learnt; they didn´t even mention their supposedly dead buddies. They didn´t know what could have happened meanwhile, they would just have to decide what to do once they got to Leadville. But one thing was firmly set on their minds – to rescue both Leo and Jane.

 _And in Jin´s case…_ Kame thought, as he watched the older one impatiently setting off as the first. _It means saving them or die trying._

But just as Jin was determined to save his younger brother, Kame was determined to protect Jin.

***

 

Along with the dusk, the white tentacles of heavy mist sneaked into the city, blurring the lines of buildings and turning people on the streets into mysterious figures. The day passed on to the dark night earlier than usually and the drizzly weather chased most of citizens to their homes. Thanks to the numbers of lanterns, it seemed as if the sour sparse milk spilled in the air, making the view outside yellow and almost creepy.

Ralph checked each of the dark aisles on the opposite side of the street once again, as well as two gunmen, who were chatting quietly under the veranda, before he stepped away from the window. The warm taproom was much more pleasant environment for that evening than the muddy streets. Or it would be, if not for the pile of broken chairs, a couple of overturned tables, the walls full of marks after gunshots and the pools of blood all over the floor.

His companion didn´t seem to be very bothered with it, though. More than anything else, Mart Duggan seemed to be bored. He sat in the corner, with his booted legs propped over the table, chewing tobacco, which was, according to Ralph, quite a disgusting habit. He had already had the ´pleasure´ to find out about the awful stink from the other man´s mouth every time he got too close to him. The former Sheriff managed to add one more item to Ralph´s list of reasons why he preferred to work alone. Not to mention that their cooperation in general just kept adding more items to that list…

To Harvey´s unsaid relief, Flow gave in and replied all their questions quite quickly, desperately trying to protect his little son. Once they knew the address to which the telegraphist used to deliver certain messages, Harvey intended just to check it out, set up a trap and wait for Akanishi to appear, or follow one of his underlings once they would leave the city to find their hideaway. If they followed his plan, maybe it would not work out perfectly, but it would definitely not turn out as such a fucking mess. But of course – Duggan had his head.

Before Harvey could stop him, right after Flow stammered out the words ´Slabtown´s Tavern´, Duggan set off to ´talk´ with the local barkeep. Unfortunately, the old man obviously used to know Duggan in his Sheriff-times and those memories were not of a nice nature.

The barkeep took out the impressive rifle from behind the bar after Duggan started to threaten him. However, he never fired, as the quick-tempered gunman beat him to it, hitting the barkeep´s shoulder.

It was taken care of the old man in the local hospital now, as he was wise enough not to stick his head up above the counter once he fell under it. Somebody, who looked more like a gorilla than a man, crushed to Duggan as an avalanche. At the same time, three youngsters, who watched the scene from the corner until that moment, drew their revolvers, making all other guests jump up from their chairs and run off to the doubtful safety of the streets.

The following events went on like crazy clockwork. By some miracle, he and Duggan came out from the shootout almost without a scratch, but it didn´t work out so well for the defenders of the tavern. Naturally, Sheriff Watson appeared, alarmed by some thoughtful citizens. After a heated ´discussion´, he retreated to his office once again, fuming in hopeless anger. It was not the first time Harvey was amazed by the fact just how much influence Tabor´s name had.

After that, when they were dragging the bodies out through the back exit, the small group appeared on the back yard. Everything froze as in some stupid scene from a joke for a while, before two young gunmen accompanying a pretty, brown-haired woman took up their weapons. Duggan had literally full hands of corpses at that moment, so Harvey was the one replying back with his guns.

Looking back at it, they were damn lucky that those two tried to cover the brunette. It took just a few seconds to create two more bodies to take care of. The woman was shocked by the unexpected welcome, but despite that she turned out to be wiser, as she tried to escape. But her horse ran wild, stood up on his back legs and threw her out of the saddle.

Duggan was at her, stepping at the brunette´s hand just before she could reach for the hidden gun. And like that, if Flow didn´t make things up, they got their hands on Leo Akanishi´s girlfriend.

They tied up and locked her in one of the rooms, so that they could finally get rid of the piling up bodies. The highest top on that crazy cake was the last Rider - a fair-haired man, who managed to sneak into the tavern, found the room with their captive and he almost got the brunette out of the building, before they bumped into them. After a brief skirmish, Duggan wounded the Rider with the knife, which the man had used to cut the woman´s ropes and Harvey´s face gained a decoration of the long fingernails scratches from Akanishi´s girlfriend.

One would have laughed over the situation, but it was not funny at all.

Only then, finally, Duggan listened to Ralph´s reasoning and they settled everything accordingly. After biding the Rider´s wound, they sent him off with the message, and Duggan picked two men from the Sheriff´s staff to join them on the watch.

“Do you really think he´ll come?” Duggan asked about the third time.

“He will,” Harvey stated again, trying not to reveal his annoyance.

“How can you be so sure?”

“He´s not that type to leave someone behind. Definitely not his girl,” Harvey said, glancing at the woman in chair right in the middle of the taproom. Jane, her name was, though she didn´t tell them that information, they got it from Flow. She didn´t say a word since the moment they captured her. Harvey had to admit she was brave and on top of that very pretty. It was no wonder that Akanishi fell for her. “I´m just not sure if he comes alone or not…”

“He would be stupid if he really came alone,” Duggan reacted mockingly.

“We´ll see,” Harvey murmured, not so convinced.

Chasing after Leo Akanishi for some time already, he knew something about the youngster, and that was he treasured his friends. It was quite uncertain how the news about so many of them being dead would influence his behavior…

*

 

Leo stood in the deep shadow of the oldest brothel in the city, his eyes focused on the dim light in the front windows of the Slabtown´s Tavern. The street was not very lively and it seemed that everybody avoided approaching the pub building, as if those two gunmen leaning over the pole for horses in front of it were two scarecrows.

They were waiting for him, that much was obvious. But Leo didn´t intend to make it easy for them. There was a secret entrance to the tavern, through the cellar, and if he was lucky, he might slip inside and maybe even find Jane unnoticed…

The young leader was icily calm on the surface, but his heart was shivering. He couldn´t even start imagining what he would do if he lost his girlfriend. Jane turned out to be more important to him than he could ever expect. He´d have laughed on his younger self, which once thought there would be nothing more than a physical attraction and sex between the two of them.

Despite that Leo was desperate to save Jane, he was aware of doing that alone was a folly. Under other circumstances, he would have waited for the others, and tried to figure out a plan first. But he just couldn´t stay still knowing that his closest friends were killed by that hunter´s hand. And it was all _his fault_. If not for the bounty on his head, they would have been save and alive.

The things went too wrong for him to be willing to drag those, who remained from the gang, to just another mess. And so he decided to do what he considered would harm them the least – to rescue Jane alone and if he fails… Well, once he won´t be around, the things will calm down eventually. In the end, it was good that the most of the manhunt was focused on him only.

Somewhere deep down, Leo knew he was just lying to himself; this ´rescue mission´ was foolish no matter from whichever angle he looked at it. But the most important thing for him was Jane and for all the others to be safe, even if it meant a noose for him. Somehow, he had always anticipated this price for being in the lead of outlaws; it was a dangerous business. Only… he didn´t expect it to come so soon.

Anyway, only he was supposed to be the one paying that ugly price, not the others. And half of them already did that and Leo couldn´t let it happen again. If his surrender meant the safety for others, so be it.

Leo took a deep breath and searched for the shortest way to the opposite side of the street.

 _Sorry, guys… Sorry, Bro…_ _I couldn´t forgive myself it more of you died because of me._

*

 

“I still think it´d be much faster to make that dumbass with the knife to lead us there.”

Ralph suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Of course, Duggan just had to share his opinion about their tactics once again. If anything, the man´s constant complaints got on his nerves.

“And to walk right to the place where he and his Riders would have an upper hand? Who knows how many more men he has! You agreed with me that this will be a safer way to go,” the bounty hunter reminded sourly.

That was the main reason for them to stay in the city, waiting. They were in control there. Akanishi just couldn´t rush with his gang into the tavern and shoot the place up. It was in the middle of Leadville, too close to the Sheriff´s office, and they were expecting him, it would have been too risky. At least Harvey assumed Akanishi would consider all of that. The Riders´ leader might have been young and naive, but he was not stupid. If he was, he would have been dead already.

“Yeah, I did…” Duggan admitted, though lacking any excitement. He pulled one of the guns from its sheath, and started checking the cartridges. “This is just damn boring… Didn´t the ultimatum run off yet?”

“We´ll wait till midnight,” Ralph decided, ready to brush off any objections. “We don´t know how fast that guy got to the right place.”

“If he did at all…” Duggan noted with a gleeful grin. “He might have bled out on the way.”

“You think that would be a good thing?” the bounty hunter snapped a little. “We would have to start all over! Only thanks to your damn desire for blood!”

The grin disappeared from the former Sheriff´s face, as if it had never been there: “You´ve got any complaints about my way of doing things?”

“Of course _not_ ,” Ralph replied in a tone, which didn´t leave any doubts he actually had them.

Duggan put a gun on the table with a heavy thud: “If you have, go to tell them to Tabor!”

Harvey smirked: “We don´t have to agree on everything to cooperate, right?”

The other man kept piercing him with an upset stare for a while.

“Fair enough,” Duggan said in the end.

Suddenly, a heavy bang was heard, coming somewhere from the back part of the building. Both gunmen exchanged a short look.

“I´ll go check it,” Ralph decided, taking his revolver now too, though he could use only one hand properly, with the other still in the gypsum, and promptly left the taproom.

Nothing moved in the corridor, the space was dark and empty. But the back door was opened. Ralph stuck the gun out first, checking the dark yard carefully. Nothing. Then a thud was heard again, from somewhere near the stables.

The bounty hunter slipped out, hiding himself behind the empty barrels and moved to the other side. He was already too far to react on time, when somebody shut the back door from the inside.

*

 

Mart Duggan stood up and crossed the space to the main entrance.

“Anything?” he asked, when he opened the door.

“No, it´s all peaceful and quiet here, Boss,” a response from one of the guarding men came.

The former Sheriff closed the door again and with a frown, he approached the woman tied up to the chair.

“So what do you think, sweetie? Did your boy come for you finally?”

The brunette just kept giving him a scornful look of the brown, shining eyes, not replying.

“You must be tough to tame,” Duggan snorted amused, spinning the revolver in his hand slowly. Then he suddenly grabbed Jane´s chin roughly. “Don´t think you´re getting away from this, woman,” he hissed. “The vermin like you belongs to jail or gallows. If that stupid boyfriend of yours thinks he´s something, when he got his name on the posters, I´ll gladly persuade him otherwise.”

Jane didn´t say a thing this time either; she spat right into Duggan´s face instead. The gunman stiffened at first, before he straightened up and slapped her.

“Little Riders´ bitch…”

At the second the last word left Duggan´s lips, a heavy wooden board met with his head and sent the man to the floor. After that Jane didn´t give even a piece of her attention to the man lying motionless, she had her eyes only for the young man in black, who rushed to the door and stuck the board under the handle. Only then he ran back to her and shortly pressed his lips against hers in the hasty kiss.

“Leo…“ Jane breathed out. “You shouldn´t…”

“Ssh…” the Riders´ leader hushed her, taking out the long knife from his high boot. “You can scold me whatever you like later. Now…”

“Hands up so I can see them!”

Leo stiffened at the sound of a harsh voice, with the blade already cutting Jane´s ropes.

“ _Now_ , Akanishi, don´t try me. You´ve got your price even dead, she doesn´t,” Harvey, who appeared in the taproom, as if he sprang up from the floor, emphasized coldly, stretching the tap.

Very slowly, Leo straightened up and turned to the side to find the barrel aiming at him and upset eyes above it.

“I´ve found your way in, through that cellar. Clever. But too bad for you - not clever _enough_ ,” Harvey informed him. “Drop that knife and step away from her.”

Looking at the face of the hunter, Leo knew the time for games ended and obeyed. The knife hit over the floor.

“You just _had to_ try, right?” the bounty hunter noted caustically. “Where are your friends?”

“I´m alone,” Leo announced stiffly.

“And I´m supposed to believe that?” Harvey snorted. “Duggan? Duggan! Get up, damn it!”

The other man was already shifting a little, murmuring something inaudible.

“Where are they?” Harvey asked Akanishi again then.

“If they were with me, you would be already dead,” the young man reacted simply.

The bounty hunter seemed to be considering his reply for a while.

“Turn around!” he ordered then.

Leo couldn´t help but look at Jane. She was scared now, he could see that. Her eyes were full of worries, as she moved with them from him to Harvey´s guns.

“You´re trying my patience,” the hunter growled, lowering the barrel so that it aimed at Jane´s head.

Leo turned around without a word, still keeping his hands up. Duggan had already sat up slowly, brushing the side of his head.

“Fuck…” he cursed and finally noticed Leo. “How did you… get inside? You little…”

“Stop blabbering and tie him up,” Harvey interrupted the confused man. “I´ve got him.”

Helping himself a little with the table, Duggan stood up.

“Sure,” he said with a dangerous shine in his eyes. “But first, I owe this little shit something.”

This time it was Leo, who was sent into the land of black emptiness - by the hard fist.

*

 

When Leo came to his senses, he found his wrists firmly tied up and his jaw tingling. They left him leaning over the side of the bar counter, right next to the pool of dry blood. Seeing it, he gulped down heavily, before he looked up.

Duggan - as he remembered the hunter calling that other gunman - had just finished a glass of some alcohol, with a big patch over his forehead. Harvey was packing up some stuff from the kitchen into a huge backpack. Naturally, Leo was the most worried about Jane and he almost panicked, when he couldn´t see his girlfriend at first, but his field of vision was limited thanks to the sitting position. Leaning forward a little, he could see her partially.

“Welcome back,” Duggan snorted, when he noticed the opened eyes of the Rider´s leader. “I hope you feel as sick as me now.”

The bounty hunter sent a glance towards him as well: “Good. We can set off right now then.”

“What? Can´t it wait till the morning?” the former Sheriff complained. “I´m fucking sick and tired, what´s the rush when we have him now?”

“He might have come alone, but I´m not very eager to sit here waiting for his angry brother and the rest of his friends. There was enough of that bloody mess already,” Harvey stated relentlessly.

“Well… All right, that makes sense…” Duggan agreed. “Then let´s get rid of the excess weight…”

“What?” Harvey turned to the other man impatiently, interrupted from the packing again.

Leo saw that the gunman headed to Jane, with a gun in his hand and his eyes widened. He furiously struggled to get on his feet, with his head spinning.

“Don´t you dare to touch her, bastard!” he snapped.

“Duggan! What the hell…?!” Harvey moved towards the man first, but then he noticed Leo staggering forward and grabbed him for both arms instead. “Not so fast...!”

“You promised to let her go!” Leo yelled, fighting against Harvey´s grip, overcame by fear for Jane´s life, which lingered on the lethal thing in the upset gunman´s hand.

Duggan looked at him unmoved: “And?”

“You son of a bitch, I will kill you!!”

The youngster raged so much, that Harvey had a hard time to force him down on his knees; the hunter managed it only after kicking under Leo´s knees and choking him a little. Then he turned his attention once again to Duggan, who repaid Jane´s wide look, smirking awfully.

“You said it yourself, Harvey – she doesn´t have any value, so why bother with her?”

Harvey felt seriously disgusted with Duggan at that moment. Not that he himself would not do something pretty ugly from time to time, but that man… He had no honor left at all.

“So you turned from the protector of law to the heartless killer? She´s just a helpless woman, damn it!”

“Don´t come on me with some pity, they do not deserve it,” Duggan hissed.

“I won´t let you kill her,” Harvey stated in an ice-cold voice, feeling how Akanishi still struggled against him desperately. “We may take her along, or leave her in the cell under Sheriff´s surveillance, as assurance that our dear reward won´t fly off. Another murder is not an option here, Duggan.”

The gunman seemed to be a little off balance by Harvey´s speech. Then he looked at the brunette again, who couldn´t help but shake a little. And then, to both Harvey´s and Leo´s relief the barrel went down.

“Fine! We´ll drag her along then!” Duggan snapped with more emotions in his voice than Harvey ever heard from him so far.

“But you –“ the gunman pointed at breathless Akanishi. “Do not even _think_ about running off. First – you would not get far, second – you try anything funny and she will pay.”

“I get it!” Leo snapped angrily. “I won´t try anything, you´ve got my word, just let her go!”

“Sorry, kid, we can´t do that,” Harvey reacted, pulling him up on his feet roughly. “If you came here without your friends´ knowledge, she would just run right to them to let them know what happened. And we need to get you to Denver quickly, no obstacles allowed.”

Leo gritted his teeth saying nothing. What else could he have expected? It was strange enough that the bounty hunter almost really sounded to be sorry.


	26. The pursuit

**T** heir hasty journey down from the mountains was not only dangerous; the tough weather conditions made it also quite exhausting.

While Esler and Ryo kept trying to come up with the best way to approach the tavern, and to decide whom they should contact to find out the details about what happened, without alarming half of the city, Koki kept complaining – about the difficult road, the dark, then about the mist. They descended only a short part of the whole way, when they entered the thick mass of the white blanket. It didn´t make their travel any easier, and nobody´s mood any better.

Unlike the other members of the rescue group, Jin was very quiet.

Kame didn´t try to pull him out from behind those walls of silence, which the older one built up around himself, not yet at least. He felt it would have been useless anyway. Naturally, Jin was worried about his brother and upset, as they all were, about that Leo didn´t wait up for their return and just rushed to Leadville, apparently without thinking much about the consequences.

Nevertheless, considering everything Kame knew about the Akanishi brothers, he was quite sure that in a similar situation, Jin would have done exactly the same thing. Leo was probably convinced that going there alone, accepting the bounty hunter´s conditions, was the best way to protect the others – or rather those, who remained from the original Black Riders.

It was quite difficult to absorb the news about Benny, Ian, Sherman, Todd, Carl and Patrick being dead, even for Kame, and he knew those guys for just a couple of weeks. What it had to be like for the rest of the gang then? They knew each other for so long; they were not only companions in crime, but also good friends, who trusted each other. Not to mention that everything went wrong so suddenly... In general, it was not surprising that something like that would happen, not while wandering around with wanted criminals. But that blow, falling upon all of them, was awfully unexpected.

Kame noticed Ukushi´s movements slowing down a little. The mare snorted and on her own retreated to the left side of the path as much as was possible. It was because the other side ended on the edge of the cliff. Thanks to the thickening mist, they couldn´t have seen a thing over there, even if they had the daylight instead of the flickering torches, but his mare surely felt the danger of the hidden pit. Ukushi didn´t like their night travelling any more than Kame did. Just a wrong step could have meant a fatal mistake.

Kuro, proceeding in front of them, didn´t slow down a bit though; the stallion´s hooves kept sending small stones away from the path, letting them sink in that nothing which surrounded them. Frowning, Kame soothed his mare across the neck and made her speed up the pace gently; he didn´t intend to let Jin out of his sight now or any time soon.

*

The descent to the valley took them the whole night. That thousand-time-damned fog got even thicker with the dawn; they didn´t even notice when they had passed the first houses of Leadville, until they were in the middle of the first big street.

To Ryo´s relief, Jin and Kame, who were leading their way all that time, didn´t need to be reminded to wait up for them. They found both the black stallion and the white mare standing in one of the side alleys, not too far away from the tavern, but at the distance, which was safe enough not to raise any unwanted attention.

The older one had just finished checking the hooves of his animal friend, while the younger guy was carefully greasing a long scratch on his mare´s hind leg, caused by some sharp twig, with the mysterious ointment.

Ryo had already noticed this before – no matter the circumstances both guys prioritized their horses´ comfort. It made him feel a little guiltily that he had never took care for his own stallion so much.

Esler dismounted with a quiet curse. Despite insisting that he was fine, the whole-day hunt followed by the rushed ride had to wear him out heavily. After all, he was beaten up quite badly in that mine, and didn´t have a chance for the full recovery yet. Koki, reaching the shady street as the last, was suspiciously quiet, as the fatigue and worries for the others finally caught up with him.

The group of Riders gathered in a small circle, behind the bodies of their horses to discuss their next steps…

*

 

At the first, and even at the second sight, the Slabtown´s Tavern seemed completely abandoned. However, they could be sure about it only after Jin and Ryo sneaked in from the back entrance, and rushed through all corridors and the taproom, while Cullen with Kame secured the front of the building, pretending to be waiting for the barber to open his business - with their hands literally resting on the gunstocks.

The streets of Leadville were still full of mist and very quiet, despite the late morning, but it didn´t _feel_ peacefully. Maybe it was just their imagination, but they expected some bloodthirsty bounty hunters or even Sheriff with his men to jump out from behind every corner. Despite their pessimistic ideas, everything went without any disruption. Their ´scouts´ got inside the tavern and out again without anybody noticing something suspicious. The expressions of both youngsters, after they reunited with patrolling Kame and Esler, were enough to tell them that they didn´t find anything good inside.

“The whole place is utter mess,” Ryo said quietly, as they were hastily returning to the horses, which they left behind the brothel building, guarded by Koki. “It seems that everything Nick said is true; there are empty cartridges and blood everywhere.”

“Any bodies?” Cullen asked in a dark tone.

“No… I think they dragged them away,” the black-haired Rider replied, his face contorted with a deep frown.

“All right, we need to make sure if anyone survived or not,” Esler decided harshly, once they reached the impatiently waiting blonde-haired Rider. “I know the undertaker; he can confirm that to us… Koki, come with me. Ryo, are you aware of our back-up supplies behind the stable?”

The youngster just nodded, already undoing the knot on the reins of his horse.

“Fine, then the three of you will pick everything up,” the deputy leader of Riders appointed Ryo, Jin and Kame to their task. “Be careful, it seems nobody guarded the tavern, but they still might be waiting for us. We´ll meet up on the north side of the cemetery. If necessary, we´re going to check up the jail as well, but I don´t think they confined Leo here.”

After that, their little group separated, going about their tasks.

*

 

The ´back-up supplies´ consisted of some non-perishable food, a few spare blankets, a small first-aid kit, four colts, one rifle and bullets for various weapons. A _lot_ of them. Kame even hesitated if they really should take all of it, but obviously, Ryo didn´t intend to let anything behind.

After loading the supplies to the side pockets on their saddles, and binding the blankets over their own stuff, they headed back to the main street. They walked forward slowly, dragging the animals behind, while trying to look through the impervious mist to notice any danger on time.

“I _knew_ we´ll be too late,” Jin murmured suddenly.

Both Ryo and Kame glanced back at him, as they stopped at the corner.

“We don´t know when exactly they had left, Jin,” Kame reminded him carefully.

“Doesn´t matter. They´re gone,” the older one snapped a little.

Kame wisely decided not to react on that, unlike Ryo: “It´s good that you keep a positive thinking,” the Rider snorted.

Jin pierced him with his dark eyes: “Keep your optimism, I´m worried for my brother here.”

“And I´m worried for _my friend_!” Ryo raised his voice.

“Guys…” Kame stepped in, before it could turn out into an argument, as the main street was finally getting lively with people. “This is _not_ the time for arguing about which one of you cares for Leo more.”

Neither of the two seemed to calm down, but they shut up at least. They were ready to mount the horses and head for the meeting at the cemetery, when Ryo suddenly stiffened.

“Isn´t that Flow, the telegrapher?” the Rider murmured hesitantly, as he tried to recognize the face of the man leaving the store on the other side of the street. “He should be in jail, shouldn´t he?”

Hearing the name, Jin immediately focused his attention in that direction as well. As if the man  felt their stares, he stopped and looked around rather alarmed, before he spotted them.

“It´s him…” Jin confirmed darkly, just when the telegrapher started to run away from them.

Ryo threw the bridle of his stallion into Kame´s hand: “Jin, take him from the back,” he blurted out just before he rushed after the man over the main street.

The younger one also grabbed Kuro´s bridle, even before Jin let it go. Ryo´s dashing steps were swallowed by the white matter very quickly, as well as his figure, while Jin disappeared behind the corner of the nearest building to outrun Flow from the side. In a significantly slower pace, Kame set off in the same direction as Ryo, leading both stallions behind, knowing there was no need to worry about Ukushi, as the mare would follow the other two even without his intervention.

*

 

Already breathless Thomas Flow turned into a narrow passage, relying on his shortcut, which he often used for managing the letter errands faster. Almost blinded by that awful mist, he wasn´t sure at first, but when he finally recognized the disheveled black hair of one of the Riders; his only wish was to disappear as far as possible at once.

The former telegrapher was scared of that moment every minute. He _knew_ that the whole issue didn´t end with his release from jail. There were rumors about the clash of Riders with some bounty hunter and the former sheriff Duggan the other evening, which ended very badly for the outlaws. The Sheriff´s deputy even said that Leo Akanishi was captured, but Flow had no doubt that there were still some of them left. And just as that he was sure that they would not want to listen to his ex…

The telegrapher´s thoughts froze, as the tall figure in long coat and dark hat appeared at the end of his escape aisle. Panicked, the man turned to get back to the main street, but on that very second, the other side was blocked by another Rider.

Gasping for breath, Flow was still trying to figure out what to say, when he was shifted towards the dirty wall roughly and an elbow pressed against his neck safely stole any breath to speak from him.

“What´s the rush?” the young man clutching him in a painful grip hissed right into his face. To Flow´s shock, he looked exactly like the wanted Akanishi. Well, almost exactly, but the resemblance was still overwhelming.

The telegrapher tried to say something, but just a wheeze came out of his lungs instead.

“He can´t speak like this,” a voice, which was very familiar to Flow, said, when the other youngster approached them.

After a tense moment, the pressure eased up a little, but Leo Akanishi´s doppelganger was obviously very far from to be willing to let him go.

“Hello, buddy,” Ryo Nishikido greeted him in an ice-cold voice, crossing the arms on his chest. “Good to see you without bars in front of your face. Though, I must say we´ve heard some nasty things about you being too talkative…”

“I´m sorry…” that was the first statement the telegrapher let go from his lips. “I really am. I didn´t…”

“You apologies are less than useless to us now,” the Rider interrupted him harshly.

Flow felt his knees shaking heavily and his eyes stinging. He knew those guys were not so bad at all, they helped out not only his, but also other families a lot. But they were definitely capable of anything, how else they would have acquired such a name? And he betrayed them.

Filled up with fear, Thomas made himself try to apologize again: “I _had to_ tell them. They blackmailed me…”

“Do you really think we care?” the other youngster, who still held him pinched to the wall, hissed disgusted.

“They threatened to hurt my son!” Flow continued desperately. “Please… I just had to protect my family… You understand that, don´t you?”

Nishikido frowned, while duplicated Akanishi stared at him with eyes so dark, it made the telegrapher feel as a little dwarf.

“No! No! Let him be!” a child´s voice resonated in the air suddenly and a small figure pushed itself through the two Riders. “Leave my Papa alone!” the boy repeated stubbornly.

“Kevin… I told you to stay with your Mum…” if anything, Flow was even more afraid now. What if they wanted to take revenge on his son?

“Papa didn´t do anything!” the boy continued fiercely.

Akanishi kept squeezing the telegrapher, looking down at the kid, saying nothing.

“He betrayed our trust,” Ryo said then, but Kevin didn´t listen. He even tried to push the other gunslinger away.

“Let him go!!” the boy screamed loudly.

The two Riders looked at each other and suddenly Flow found himself free. Yet he had to lean over the wall to keep standing. He pulled his son closer, squeezing his tiny shoulders.

“I just told them to where I used to deliver the messages to you… And… and about your leader having a girlfriend…. But nothing else, I swear!”

“Only that was more than enough,” Akanishi´s double snapped.

“I know, I know, I´m so sorry…” the telegrapher repeated, almost with tears in his eyes.

“Do you know where I´d like to stick your excuses?” the young gunslinger snorted, kicking into some box nearby.

“Jin…” another voice, whose owner was unknown to Flow, joined the conversation.

It was a young man leading three horses towards them slowly. The angry gunslinger murmured something inaudible, before he stepped away from him and his son towards the opposite wall. Flow had a feeling that the second Akanishi did that to prevent himself from strangling him.

“What else did you tell them?” Nishikido asked.

“Nothing! Really nothing!” Flow insisted on his previous confession.

“So, they were satisfied with knowing about the tavern only?”

“Not really, but I had nothing else to tell them anyway! I know nothing about your business!”

Nishikido observed him for a while yet, before he nodded: “All right, let´s say I believe you. Do you know anything specific about what happened yesterday evening?”

“Well…” Flow glanced at that doppelganger, who was suspiciously quiet. “They say Leo Akanishi was captured… and some Riders killed, but I don´t really know anything.”

“Are they in the city yet?” the Rider raised another question.

“I don´t know!”

“You should at least _try_ to be useful to us…” Nishikido noted sarcastically.

“I think I saw them,” Kevin announced all of the sudden, making all the adults look at him surprised. The boy was holding onto one of his father´s hands, and stared at them from his low height quite bravely.

“Whom?” the latest, and at the first sight the youngest Rider asked him rather kindly.

“Those gunmen… They took the beautiful lady and her friend away. I saw them riding around our house,” Kevin explained.

Everybody stiffened.

“Are you sure?” Nishikido asked slowly.

The boy nodded: “I remember the pretty lady; she was nice to me.”

“When, Kevin? When did you see them?” the Rider urged on the boy.

Kevin pouted: “If I tell you, will you leave my Papa alone?”

His father telegrapher seemed to be a little shocked over the cheeky behavior of his son, while the young gunslingers exchanged a short look between them.

“We´ll think about it,” Ryo said in the end. “Depends on what you´re going to tell us.”

“Well… It was late…” the boy said after a short hesitation. “My Mum wanted me to sleep but I didn´t. I played with my favorite toys and then I heard horses. It was very dark already and that mist everywhere… it was scary. But I saw them.”

“Damn it…” the Akanishi´s double figured out what it meant.

“They already left in the evening…” the youngest one completed him. “Where is your house located, Mister?”

“In the outskirts, the northern part,” Flow replied a little dumb-founded about the change in the course and atmosphere of their ´conversation´.

“Did it look like they´re gonna use the main road towards Denver, kid?” Ryo asked hastily.

Kevin frowned a little, thinking.

“I don´t know, they just passed by our house. I don´t know where they went.”

“How many of them did you see?” again, the youngest member of the company asked him.

“The lady, the tied up man, then those two, who came to you in jail, Papa. They were scary… And then…” the boy raised one finger after another. “Four… No! Five other riders.”

“Is there anything else you remember, Kevin?” the youngest Rider asked, soothing a little restless stallion meanwhile.

The boy shook his head: “No.”

“Thank you anyway, that will help us a lot,” the horses´ guardian smiled.

“We should go…” Ryo announced. “We need to tell this to the others.”

Flow looked at him, disbelieving his luck – they were going to let him go? But he stiffened under the sudden dark look of the Akanishi-like gunslinger.

“Be grateful to your son,” the youngster murmured not very happily, before he turned away to take the reins of the beautiful black stallion from his companion.

“One more thing…” Thomas spoke once again, before he could reconsider it.

“What? Anything else you exposed?” Nishikido asked caustically.

“No… There was a telegram for you… Right before they put me in jail, I had no chance to tell you.”

“Ah, really?” the Rider raised his eyebrows. “And you _didn´t_ hand it over to the sheriff why exactly?”

“They didn´t ask about it and I´m not such a rat…” Flow reacted seriously. “I still owe you all. It was the message from somebody named Barlett. Do you know him?”

“Oswald…” Nishikido breathed out. “What it said?” he asked in a much sharper tone.

“That his sister passed away during the voyage to Europe,” the telegrapher announced. “And that he won´t return here to the States. He left everything to you and wished you good luck. That´s almost word by word what was written there.”

*

 

Crosses and tombstones peeking out from the mist felt like a deadly silent bad omen. While three youngsters loaded with ammunition supplies approached the northern, non-existing border of the vast cemetery in quite a rush, prompting their horses forward impatiently, the older gunslinger and his blonde companion waited at the meeting place motionlessly.

The gloomy expressions of both Cullen and Koki destroyed even the last hope for that at least somebody made it out from the tavern alive. Without saying a single word, both parties of their once-again-rescue-group knew that the other had no good news.

Benny, Todd, Ian, Sherman, Carl and Patrick – they were all dead. The coffin-maker confirmed they were killed during a firefight in the Slabtown´s Tavern. The man had already prepared the coffins for all of them. Apparently at the request of the sheriff, which was quite surprising since all their deceased friends were labeled as members of Black Riders. Outlaws like them were supposed to be put for the last rest under the ground somewhere aside from the official space of the Leadville cemetery, without any ceremonies. They could just assume that the sheriff wanted to present himself as a decent man. They didn’t give a damn about his reasons anyway.

In the heavy atmosphere, they discussed their news, including unhappy telegram from Oswald, which just made all of them feel more depressed. Esler didn´t even need to hear the whole story about their clash with Flow to decide they would leave right away. They split the ammunition among everyone, mounted their horses again and promptly set off towards the main connection of Leadville with the east, with one clear goal on their minds – to catch up with those men, who captured their leader and Jane before they reach Denver at all costs.

***

 

“Where are the others?” Jane whispered urgently, using the first chance to talk with Leo since they had left Leadville. And that was not sooner than the next evening, after twenty hours of riding, when they first headed to the north, before turning to the east, as they shortened the distance to Denver mile after mile, on much faster pace than she would have liked.

The captured leader of Black Riders, sitting on the cold ground next to her, tied up more tightly than she was, just glanced at her without a word.  Jane pressed her lips together in annoyance, which she didn´t want to reveal. So, her suspicion was right.

“Don´t tell me you really came alone?!”

Another silent, and somewhat regretful look of the younger man´s eyes told her almost everything she needed to know.

“Oh my dear God… Why?”

Leo avoided her reproachful stare and kept silent for a while, looking at the nearby group of five gunmen taking care of the horses and gathering wood for the night campfire.

“I couldn´t let anyone else die because of me…”

Jane wanted to object somehow but seeing the expression on her lover´s face, the words stuck in her throat.

“Despite those two shot Benny and all the others down,” the young leader continued, staring at the bounty hunter and former sheriff of Leadville, who discussed something over the map, sitting at the bole of the fallen tree. “Their blood is on _my_ hands, Jane… I couldn´t put everybody else under that risk. It was either to save you all by myself or die trying.”

Jane didn´t like his speech much and Leo probably noticed that in her fierce eyes, when he looked at her again.

“But I was stupid, because I put _you_ in the biggest danger like that,” he admitted guiltily. “I shouldn´t have trusted them that they would let you go.”

No matter the circumstances of what Leo did, Jane just couldn´t be angry with him. If nothing else, he just declared that she was the most important element in all that misfortune, that he would have died for her.

“I´m fine now,” she said softly. “That´s more than some can say…”

Leo´s face suddenly contorted with the suppressed pain. They didn´t really have the time to mourn the friends they had lost yet.

“Jane… No matter how this will end, I want you to know that…”

“No whispering over there!” the heavy steps approached their “resting” spot and Mart Duggan stopped above them with a threatening expression. “If you´re so bored, I can make you quite busy!” he snorted and without any other warning he hit Leo across the back of his neck with the butt of the rifle.

The Riders´ leader leant forward, barely suppressing the scream of pain. With his eyes closed, trying to overcome it, Leo didn´t realize that his girlfriend was pulled up on her legs, until the former sheriff spoke again.

“And you… Get some water over there and prepare a dinner for all of us.”

“Duggan…” the bounty hunter tried to involve himself, but the older gunman didn´t let him talk this time.

“What? She can be useful somehow!”

“Then untie her at least, or we´ll starve to death before she gets anything ready.”

“No way! Four steps away from the camp and she´ll be on the run!” Duggan snapped.

“I don´t think so…” the hunter declined, settling himself opposite to Leo, who finally caught his breath. “Honey, you´ll be back here within two minutes or I will put the bullet into each leg of your boyfriend for each second of your delay.”

Duggan smirked: “That´s an unexpectedly good idea…” he admitted and quite promptly he released the knots on Jane´s ties.

“Are we clear?” Harvey asked with the revolver swinging in his hand.

Jane just nodded, massaging her wrists.

“You should move on, your time is running,” the former sheriff pushed the brunette towards the pile of supplies and tin dishes, which was created after unloading of horses.

Almost as soon as Duggan turned his back to them, Harvey put his revolver aside and started searching through his pockets. It was for the cigarettes, as Leo found out when the hunter pulled the small box out. Not that he would be interested in that - Leo didn´t take his eyes off Duggan prompting Jane towards the brook under their camp. He couldn´t help but notice how all other gunmen watched the movement of his girlfriend and he didn´t like it even a bit.

“Don´t try anything funny, you hear me, Akanishi?”

Unwillingly, Leo focused on the smoking hunter.

“I won´t,” he reacted simply.

“Good. You wouldn´t have liked the consequences, believe me,” Harvey emphasized coldly.

***

 

Without any sleep or proper rest, they kept riding the second night in a row through not very friendly terrain and Ryo felt they wouldn´t keep it up for much longer. Cullen didn´t even try to pretend he was not in pain anymore, Koki almost fell from his saddle twice, dozing off and Ryo himself had to pinch himself a few times to keep his eyes at least half-open. Just those two in the lead of their rushing group seemed to have endless source of energy. He could understand very well what pushed Jin forward, and as for Kame… Well, the younger one was as always attached to the older Akanishi like a glue.

They all agreed and bet on a very high chance that the ones they chased after had to stop for the night. Estimating their pace, they could be at the probable position of the bounty hunter and his captives sometimes in the early morning. Of course, that would do only in case of the most optimistic scenario, and that they wouldn´t fall asleep instead.

Ryo suppressed a yawn, checking on his blonde buddy again in the flickering light of one torch. Kame was carrying the second one, something over ten meters in front of them. Trying their best, they just kept heading towards Denver as two lonely lights. It already felt as if they didn´t stop for a week, not for just two days. And Ryo promised to himself, that once this adventure would be over, hopefully with a happy ending, he would take at least a week off.

*

 

For more than a half of the night they rode directly to the east. Kame almost couldn´t believe it when he finally realized that the horizon in front of them was getting brighter and brighter. It was a miracle nobody got hurt during their dangerous ride from Leadville yet, considering how tired they were. He felt awfully cold, but didn´t button his coat up, because the coldness kept him awake. Dousing the torch, as it was no longer necessary, he glanced back to see Esler, Ryo and Koki blindly riding forward, barely holding onto the reins, with their horses obediently following Ukushi and Kuro.

Naturally, all horses were tired too and Kame knew they couldn´t push it much longer. He soothed Ukushi at the top of her drooped head and made her catch up with Kuro, whose - in that moment motionless - dark figure was sharply visible on the background of the dawn.

Stopping next to him, Kame could see the same view over the valley, which was still hidden in the deep darkness. The road led steeply down between the slopes of two high mountains, which were now on each side of it. If Kame remembered the map correctly, they were not so far from the nearest spot of human inhabitation – Georgetown. It would be much more difficult to rescue Leo and Jane once their captors got them within the reach of civilization. They really hoped that the group stopped somewhere under that steep descent. They couldn´t have get further within one night and day, even if their horses could fly.

Kame looked at silent Jin in the dim light and that sight didn´t calm him much. His lover had dark circles under his eyes, yet they were full of the dangerous shine. His jaw was stiffened, as well as his hands on the reins, as Jin clutched them almost desperately.

The younger one shifted in the saddle a little and searched in one of the pockets for a while, before he found the small package, which he had spared for the worse times. It was full of the thick sticks from Lena, made of honey, nuts and sweet beans. Those sticks didn´t rot easily, and gave a lot of energy when needed. Separating one from the carefully packed pile, Kame reached out to Jin.

It took a while before the older one noticed it and looked at him uncomprehendingly.

“Eat it,” Kame ordered him, not explaining anything, waited for Jin to take it and then prepared some more for the others, once they would catch up with them.

Jin bit into the stick carefully, but his dark expression changed once he chewed a few times.

“It´s good… The…ks..” he murmured, his mouth full of the sweet mass.

Kame just nodded, already pulling out the map, to look at it in the morning light.

“We need to proceed more slowly from now on…” he said, checking on the distance again. “Not to overtake them by chance.”

“Yeah… In case that they really stopped…” the older one reacted gloomily.

“They did, Jin, have some faith. We deserve some luck already, don´t we?”

Jin didn´t react for so long, that it made Kame raise his head, and found the older one´s orbs looking at him tensely.

“Jin?” he asked carefully. “What did I…?”

The older one reached out and squeezed Kame´s shoulder: “I have my luck right here…”

That was a new discovery about Jin for Kame. When he was tired and worried, he could be also quite sweet.

“Well, I´ll do my best to accomplish my job then.”

Not smiling, but at least somehow more relaxed, Jin kept squeezing him for a moment, looking as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he just nodded and turned towards the rest of their group.

***

 

Leo flinched, waking up from the heavy nap, as he just couldn´t keep his eyes open no matter how hard he tried. A soft hand covered his mouth and after his eyes adjusted to the first dim light of the dawn, he recognized the face of his girlfriend right in front of him, keeping a finger on her lips.

Confused, Leo realized that she was free, despite one of the gunmen tied her up again for the night and then he looked all around the camp. He found their captors asleep in the various positions around the slightly beaming ashes of their campfire. Wide-eyed, he checked and counted them again, making sure that really everybody was asleep, including two gunmen, who were supposed to be on the watch.

Jane already furiously worked on the ropes binding his hands, cutting them with a small cooking knife, which seemed to be a little dull.

“How did you…? Why are they…?” Leo whispered, before he remembered how his lovely brunette closely watched all men, while they drank the hot tea and ate the meal she had prepared and the realization hit him. “You put something in the food!”

“Ssh!!” Jane hushed him urgently, and hissed upset curse at the small knife, which didn´t work as fast as it could. “Yes, I found some herbs at the brook. But it took quite long before it worked, I´m afraid there was too little of it…”

Finally, the ropes fell down and Leo took the knife from the gentle fingers of his lover, ignoring the itching in his fingers as the blood circulation was returning: “And you even managed to steal this… Seriously, I love you.”

“Keep your declarations of love for later and cut it!” Jane scolded him, but still a lovely smile curved her lips up.

“I don´t have to...” Leo murmured, as he stuck the top of the knife right in the middle of one knot. He knew that style of binding, which Harvey had used for restraining him and like that he could release it quite quickly.

After standing up, Leo almost fell back down, as his numb legs refused to carry him, but Jane helped him out. She wanted to lead their way out of the camp right away, but Leo pulled her a little aside, pointing at the waist of one of peacefully sleeping men.

“We need a gun!” he mouthed soundlessly.

Jane frowned, but nodded and looked around with him, to pick up the most conveniently put weapon. On the spot of the “watch”, the rifle was leaning over the tree, but that would be too clumsy for the run through the woods. Leo was aiming for a revolver or colt… which was safely hidden in the sheaths on Harvey´s belt…

He massaged his legs a little, feeling finally steady and nodded at Jane to let her know it was fine to let him go. Then he tiptoed around snorting Duggan towards the bounty hunter.

“Leo! No!” Jane protested as quietly as possible. “He didn´t drink that much, you´ll wake him up!”

This time, it was Leo, who hushed her with the finger on the lips. It was worth of the risk…

And it paid off. He managed to snatch at least one revolver, he didn´t even try for the second one, as Harvey slept on his side. Meanwhile, Jane took three rifles, which were either hanging on the low branches or leaning over the trees, hastily pulled the cartridges out and she threw them away into the thickest bushes.

They avoided the resting horses and with their hearts beating heavily, they escaped from the peaceful camp. Hand in hand, Leo and Jane got to the bank of the wide stream and almost dared to take the first calm breath, when the sudden alarmed yell reached them. Leo recognized the voice as Harvey´s. Damn it, he did woke up in the end and noticed their disappearance. Looking at each other shortly, the couple started running…


	27. Bloody conclusion

**R** alph Harvey cursed vulgarly when yet another protruding root had tried to slow him down. As if it wasn´t difficult enough to determine the correct direction only according to the broken twigs and faint noises their fugitives created, because of that damn fuss which the Sheriff´s men from Leadville made in his steps, including that asshole Duggan. If he didn´t decide for them that they would try the direction towards the road first, down from the hill, they would be still up in the camp, arguing.

It was almost impossible to wake up all of them. When that strong feeling, which was screaming at him that something was wrong, interrupted his own sleep, Ralph himself felt somehow dizzy. But there was not much time to think about it, as he found their captives missing. How the hell they got out of the ties, which he had checked himself, didn´t matter at that moment. What angered him the most was the fact those so-called men of law were not able to watch over them.

He should skin those idiots for being so reckless, but it was weird they all dropped off like that. One thought popped up in his mind while he was running through the sparse forest - Was it possible that Akanishi´s girlfriend put something in their food the evening before? But where would she get anything like that? They didn´t have anything left in their pockets, they had checked them carefully enough…

Anyway, Ralph realized he should not have underestimated her just because she was a woman. There had to be something about the brunette, that secured her position in the Riders´ company. But he could think and complain about it later – now, there was another burning issue to deal with – they had to recapture them.

Dashing across the damp surface of the forest floor, Harvey admitted to himself that Leo Akanishi surprised him again. The youngster managed to steal one of his own revolvers, which pissed him off quite a bit, even though he couldn´t use both of them at once, since one of his hands was still temporarily out of order. Not to mention, that the young outlaw didn´t even try to get rid of at least one of them while they were asleep, though he had to be aware of a great disadvantage in case they would have been chased. Why would Akanishi let such a chance slip away? Was it against his code of honor, or what? An honest bandit – it was laughable.

Luckily, his hunch was right and they were closing up on Akanishi and his precious girlfriend. They were getting closer and closer to the main road quickly and Ralph had already glimpsed both runaways between the trees a few times – something was slowing them down.

The bounty hunter jumped over an annoying fallen tree, which was in his way and turned to call over to the others, who kept behind him in a wide line.

“Everybody move! We almost got them!”

And one of his dumb underlings took it as an order to open fire.

***

After agreeing upon a slower and even more careful advance, they divided themselves as before - with Kame and Jin riding ahead again, there was almost half a mile between them and Esler with Ryo and Koki. They had already left a greater part of the steep descent behind and the surroundings of the road were peaceful, interrupted only by early birds singing from time to time. There was no sign of anyone else´s presence, except the scattered hints of tracks left after a group of riders.

Until the rising sun separated from the ground, setting off for yet another journey across the sky, they encountered nothing suspicious. Only then, like a bolt out of the blue, a not very distant gunshot disrupted the peaceful nature.

Despite the young Riders and their temporary leader had all senses on alert, when that shot cut through the chilly morning air, it made everybody – both men and their animals – wince and look around with a fright. Ryo and Esler had to calm down their startled horses, while Koki almost fell down from the saddle, this time for real, hooking both arms around the animal´s neck only in the last second. Jin was the quickest in reaching for the revolver and Kame straightened up from the knee-bend, as he was observing some tracks in the ground.

Another gunshot followed even before they could get themselves together. The shooting was heard somewhere on the right side of the road and it totally surprised them that it was so close – somewhere between the two units of their rescue squad – behind Jin and Kame, but in front of Esler and his companions.

They all realized at once, that there was a damn low chance that such a coincidence was _not_ related to those they were chasing after.

Kuro turned and set off into motion so promptly that his hooves left the deep marks in the damp ground, as his rider forced him to trot and then to gallop. Kame also mounted Ukushi right away, but still, the older one was almost a third way back before he managed to follow after him.

From the other side, Esler and the others somehow made their animals find some energy for the faster pace too.

Then, far ahead of galloping Kuro, a woman limped out of the woods. Even from that distance, Kame easily recognized the tall figure of the brunette rushing across the road. Jane didn´t look left or right and the next moment, she disappeared on the opposite side between the trees. Her escape followed by more gunshots, now so close that the approaching Riders could see the splinters flying off the trees.

The black stallion even accelerated, when the second figure staggered backwards onto the road, with a single revolver in hand. It was not hard to identify the haunted face of the Riders´ leader.

Leo Akanishi cowered behind the nearest tree, avoiding just another series of gunshots. Suddenly, the road turned out to be quite lively, as four gunmen appeared onto it too, furiously trying to hit the escaping Rider.

At that moment, to Kame´s amazement, Jin, who was closest to that scene, let the bridle go completely, keeping himself steady in the saddle with his thighs, as he draw the second revolver. Then with both hands, he aimed at his brother´s chasers, totally ignoring the fact that he was outnumbered.

One of those gunmen, whom Kame didn´t recognize, finally noticed the approaching gunslinger and his jaw dropped in shock, before he yelled to alarm the others.

They certainly didn´t recognize who was that crazy rider, but the revolvers in the young man´s hands gave them more than a good reason to consider him an enemy. While one rifleman kept proceeding towards hiding Leo, the other three spread across the whole width of the road and their reloaded rifles aimed at Jin.

The older Akanishi didn´t even flinch. He didn´t make his horse move off the road or at least somewhere aside, Jin just kept riding towards the prepared gunmen straight ahead. With a growing fright, Kame pushed his dear mare to her limits, but he was still far behind, when the rifles fired.

*

Once the road was in their sight, Harvey finally noticed what slowed down the escape of their captives – the brunette probably got hurt on the way, as she was limping heavily. Akanishi was covering their retreat to the other side, shooting after the pursuers.

Harvey carefully listened to the number of shots, which fired from his revolver. He didn´t know if Akanishi managed to steal also spare bullets, but in case he didn´t, the young outlaw was about to be out of ammunition very soon.

The hunter let four Sheriff´s men to go ahead, and push the youngster across the road, while the fifth one covered them from the woods. He turned and searched through the woods with his eyes, until he finally also noticed Duggan between the trees. The former Sheriff was obviously not much into physical activities and he was wheezing heavily as the last one of them.

Turning his attention to the road again, he saw that Akanishi took a cover on the opposite side and their gunmen walked right towards him.

For a moment, Harvey thought that would be the end of the little detour the two of them managed, and proceeded forward too, ready for any unpleasant surprise the youngster might have had for them. But then, he heard the rushed clatter of the hooves from the right side. The gunmen on the road heard it too and their attention turned from hiding Akanishi towards the unknown rider.

Well, not _so_ unknown… At first, Harvey thought he had been hallucinating, or not seeing well from that distance, since the youngster on the pitch-black stallion, looked almost exactly like Leo Akanishi. But since the said wanted man was still hiding behind the tree on the other side of the road, it could not have been anyone else than his older brother.

It was a very awful surprise to find the older Akanishi on their tail so damn quickly. He either had to follow them from Leadville, or had no rest at all. And seeing his crazy ride right towards the armed gunmen on the road, ready to fire with rifles, he would bet on the latter.

*

Kame´s heart skipped a beat, as his imagination showed him Jin being hit and falling on the ground in a waterfall of blood. But when the echoes of three gunshots subsided, the young gunslinger was _still_ riding forward. Within two heartbeats, he got into range too and Jin´s revolvers replied to the hostile greetings of the rifles.

The precise shooting of the young gunslinger, which didn´t lose anything from its lethal preciseness despite the inconvenient conditions, made the first gunman fall like a felled tree, with a gaping hole in his skull. The other one yelled in pain, as the red stain appeared on the shirt under his coat, spreading quickly. The third one dropped the rifle during a hasty attempt to reload it, as he was hit in a shoulder.

Only then, the rifleman intending to chase the younger Akanishi out of his poor hideout, noticed also the second part of their group, as Koki and Ryo started shooting as well, to drag the gunmen´s attention to themselves and away from Jin.

*

The gunmen started shooting first, but they were either blind or the older Akanishi had incredible luck, as the young gunslinger just kept riding forward and once his revolvers spoke it was met with a pained response from the men on the road. That youngster was damn good, shooting from the saddle like that.

“Take cover!” Harvey yelled, noticing the two masked riders approaching from the other side.

*

Somebody´s voice from the woods yelled an order to retreat. Cowering under the second set of shots coming from the lethal revolvers, the unwounded gunman and the other one, who could still move, retreated to the relative safety of the woods again, leaving their two fellows behind.

With the emptied revolvers in his hands, Jin reached the spot where the two men were bleeding heavily. Not paying them any attention, the older Akanishi dismounted Kuro in one swift move. With a hard smack, he sent the animal back and he literally jumped behind the tree, to the side of his brother, who stared at his sudden appearance in utter shock.

Four bullets sent from the opposite side mercilessly hit the poor wood, which covered the gunslinger in the last second and fortunately missed the fleeing stallion.

*

Harvey rushed forward and took a convenient position from which he could aim at the older Akanishi. But the youngster dismounted his impressive horse and hid on the other side of the road next to his brother, before Harvey could target him properly.

*

As soon as Jin disappeared from Kame´s sight on the side of the road, certainly to reload his lethal guns, the younger one turned Ukushi to the left, slowing down significantly. His heart was still beating as crazy, his hands shaking a little, but at that moment, he just _had to_ calm down.

Trying hard to suppress his worries, he figured that since their enemies were occupied with both Akanishis, plus with Ryo and Koki rushing to them from the other side, he might just surprise them.

Ukushi proceeded through the woods slowly, her hooves avoiding the big dry sticks, which would have made too much noise. They continued alongside the road, while Kame tried to see through the play of shadows and sunlight to estimate the situation. The forest resonated with barrages of shots again, coming from here and there, depending on which side was ready at that moment.

Hoping the gunmen didn´t notice his maneuver, Kame dismounted Ukushi, leaving her behind one large ugly rock and ran closer. He managed to get to the backs of the two gunmen who escaped from the road and he crouched behind a tree.

Kame took a deep breath, while pulling the revolver out of its sheath. But he wasn´t able to just shoot at them like that, from behind. He wanted to give them a chance to give up.

“Look out! There!”

Kame stiffened a little, but the warning wasn´t related to him - one of the gunmen noticed a blonde head between the trees. _So Ryo and Koki sneaked inside the woods too_ , he figured and carefully aimed at the gunmen, who were getting ready to welcome other uninvited participants of the reunion on the road.

“Drop your weapons!” he exclaimed, leaning out from his cover.

He startled them for sure, but hearing his voice the gunmen didn´t freeze up. They turned and immediately started to shoot. Kame hid quickly and waited until the gunshots died out, his face darkening - as much as he hated any needless bloodshed, he was ready to protect himself.

Jumping up from the other side of the tree, he fired. His bullet hit one of the men right to the chest and left him lying motionless. The other was killed by Ryo the moment his focus was on Kame. Koki, who acted as a decoy, popped out from behind another tree as well, waving with the rifle he took from the third gunman, who was hiding nearby.

The three young gunslingers looked at each other over the dead bodies wordlessly, when just another deafening bang resonated in the valley.

*

With a loud grunting and puffing, Duggan made his way through the low spruces, ending up at Harvey´s cover spot, and leant on the rifle.

“What the fuck is going on?!” the gunman snapped at the hunter.

“Shut up!” Ralph snapped angrily. He had a bad feeling and didn´t want to reveal his position. Those two youngsters left the horses on the road and rushed somewhere to the right. Both sides of the road kept exchanging more of warning shots than serious ones and Harvey was still missing something on the scene.

“I´m not taking any orders from you!” Duggan even raised his stupid voice.

“I said shut up, you dumbass!” the bounty hunter grunted annoyed.

“Hands up!!”

 _Shit, I so knew it_ , Harvey grunted in his mind and raised both hands in the air, realizing he was not careful enough to watch his back – he knew there were more of them than just Leo´s brother and those two with the scarves over their faces. Duggan was not so wise though and turned with the rifle in his hands.

“I said…”

Harvey couldn´t help but flinch a little, when there was a loud shot right behind his back.

“…hands up,” the ice-cold voice finished.

The former sheriff of Leadville growled and when Harvey carefully glanced to his side he saw how the man spat out a waterfall of blood and then fell with his face right into the pile of dry needles.

“I´ll gladly do the same with you, if you try anything!” a harsh voice spoke above Harvey´s head.

You´ll do it anyway, but I might try… Harvey thought gloomily, as he let his revolver drop to the ground.

*

Everything happened so quickly that Ryo couldn´t even start to worry.

It ended up with four bodies among the trees, two on the road. Esler dragged Harvey, who was the only one who surrendered, out from his hideout to the road, while Jin and Leo appeared on the other side. He and Koki approached the same spot, after they gathered the horses, while Kame with Ukushi rode to the woods to get Jane.

They gathered in the middle of the road, with the pools of blood soaking into the earth just a foot away from them. Esler made Harvey kneel down, keeping the rifle aimed at his head. Leo, with a disbelieving expression, was still gasping for breath and trying not to put much weight on his left leg, his trousers soaking with blood. Jin, with suspiciously dark color of his left sleeve, checked on the bodies on the road, if there was really no life left in them. Koki and Ryo were tying the horses together with Kuro, who came back as soon as the gunshots definitely stopped.

“There´s Duggan, that former Sheriff from Leadville, and three other men in the woods - is that all of them?” Esler looked at baffled Leo, who just managed to nod.

“Well, that was some surprise ambush, guys, wasn´t it?” Koki noted with a little crazy grin.

“When? How? I don´t….” Leo was obviously helpless about understanding what just happened in front of his eyes.

Before anyone else could move, the older Akanishi returned the emptied revolvers back to their places in the belt sheaths and turned towards his sweaty brother. Without a word, Jin made three fast steps, crossing the space between him and Leo, and with all force he had, he hit the Riders´ leader into his chin. The blow sent Leo down to the ground, where he ended up sitting in the mud, just when the white mare returned to the road, with Kame and Jane in the saddle.

“Hey!” Koki yelled surprised, but Esler and Ryo saw Leo´s face, before the hit fell – the younger Akanishi he expected it and did nothing to avoid it…

Harvey snickered, and to his luck, nobody noticed it, as everybody was watching the two brothers - the older one standing above the younger as a big living complaint. Leo held his chin, repaying Jin´s stare for a long moment. Then Jin moved again, but this time he reached out with his right hand and after a short hesitation, Leo accepted it. The older Akanishi pulled his brother up on his legs again.

“You deserved it, stupid Brother,” Jin announced.

“I know,” Leo admitted quietly.

Esler and Ryo looked at each other, more than relieved. Their reunion was complete with Kame stopping Ukushi behind kneeling Harvey. The youngster left Jane sitting in the saddle, and dismounted throwing his leg above the mare´s head. Then he passed between Esler and Ryo, who still kept their guns in hands, not feeling secure enough.

Within a second, Kame was in front of Jin, who turned towards him, not suspecting anything. The young man shoved Akanishi with both hands with such a force, that it made the older one stagger a few steps back.

“You idiot!” Kame snapped angrily and shoved him again. “What were you thinking?! You wanted to get yourself killed?!”

Jin just barely stayed on his feet, but didn´t defend himself in front of Kame´s angry outburst, too surprised. The younger one was breathing heavily, not pushing Jin away anymore, but still staring at him. Leo, Esler, Koki, Ryo, Jane and even Harvey observed the scene speechless.

“Kame… I didn´t…” Akanishi tried to justify himself, without much success.

“ _Think_ , right?!” the younger one cut in, snapping again. “I thought so!”

After a short deafening silence, Kame looked down from Jin´s face and he noticed the color of his coat.

“You´re _bleeding_!”

Even more upset, Kamenashi turned on his heels and returned to his mare, to get the medical stuff from the saddle. From some reason, nobody dared to say anything. Only Jane was watching the younger one pulling the bandages out with unspoken understanding.

*

Harvey couldn´t help but chuckle. What a lovely scene that was. Leo Akanishi scolded by his older brother as a little kid. And then, the very same person getting the similar treatment from an even younger man. Harvey knew from the very start that Kamenashi had balls…

“What the hell are you laughing about?!” one of his captors, the blonde one, hissed and poked the muzzle of the rifle into his back painfully.

“That humor will leave him, you´ll see,” the older Rider noted darkly.

Of course, Harvey could imagine that himself. Since all of them had their faces uncovered now, there was no chance they would have let him live.

Damn Tabor with all his money... Seeing nothing positive in his non-existing future now, Harvey realized he quite liked his life and was not very happy to give up on it already. Damn it, really…

*

“Leo? What about him?” Koki pointed at the kneeling hunter, after Kame finished the provisional binding of the leader´s leg wound and moved on to the older Akanishi, who seemed to be quite dumbfounded.

“We should get rid of him right now,” Cullen assumed coldly, his rifle long ready for the task.

Leo limped closer. Harvey looked up and his eyes connected with the young leader for a long moment. Leo saw that Harvey was not afraid – the bounty hunter was disappointed, pissed and tired, but not afraid.

“Just tie him to some tree nearby and leave him here,” he said from the sudden impulse.

“WHAT?” Ryo and Koki reacted with an equal shock, their jaws dropping down.

“You´ll let him go?” Jin, letting Kame check on the ugly scratch on his shoulder, almost glad for some distraction, frowned as well.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Ryo burst out angrily.

“He saw all of us!” Koki joined him. “He killed our friends!”

The bounty hunter seemed to be the most surprised of all, but said nothing at all.

“Why?” Esler asked seriously, narrowing his look. “What makes you let him live, Leo?”

The Rider´s leader kept looking into the hunter´s eyes seriously, when he replied: “I owe him for Jane´s life… She would be dead if not for him.”

Esler turned to look at Jane, who was still sitting on the mare´s back, silently soothing her neck, but her eyes focused on Leo. She didn´t say anything, as he expected she would. Jane was usually the one to talk Leo out of any nonsense, but not in that case it seemed.

“But with this, we are settled, Harvey,” Leo added, turning away from the shocked bounty hunter.

*

They had to drag all the bodies deeper into the woods, but still close to Harvey´s ´resting´ spot, and cover them with some branches. Then, while Kame, Jane with a sprinkled ankle and Esler remained with the bounty hunter and the horses, slightly limping Leo led Ryo, Koki and Jin to the encampment on the hill, which was not so far away, as they intended to take anything useful from there.

Ralph didn´t understand at all. He was so surprised that he didn´t manage to say a single word. Only after they really tied him up to the tree, quite painfully, not far from the road, he was willing to believe Akanishi´s decision.

He observed his company, distrusting their obedience quite a bit. That oldest Rider didn´t look to be any fun, as he stood there, leaning over the tree and staring at him all the time. The sneaky woman was resting on the old stump and then there was Kamenashi, who was reloading a pair of revolvers.

“Who would say we´ll meet again so soon, Kamenashi,” Ralph noted.

The youngster eyed him with an unmoved expression: “I´m not interested in any conversation with you, Harvey.”

“Too bad, I´m starting to get bored,” the bounty hunter reacted disappointedly.

“Get used to it, I bet you´ll spend some time over here,” the watching Rider hissed.

“You don´t think that it´s a very good idea to let me go, right?” Harvey noted.

“Good guess,” the man reacted coldly.

Harvey was honestly curious; the arrangement in their gang was just strange.

“So, what is it about that Akanishi brat that you follow up with his whims?”

All three of them stabbed him with their eyes.

“I advise you to shut up, Harvey, or I might reconsider my obedience to our leader within two seconds as I´ll pull the trigger,” the Rider informed him.

Harvey eyed the man, still at loss. It was incredible, that they were willing to let him go just because their honest Leo Akanishi said so.

“Or I´ve got another idea,” the Rider continued. “Leo didn´t say anything about _not hurting_ you, so… What about I´ll cut your tongue out?”

Harvey´s face turned quite pale – that man seemed to be absolutely serious.

“Ehm, well… I can assure you that´s not necessary. I´ve had enough troubles with you, and got paid for it already. I don´t mean to get in your way anymore.”

“That´s a song you should have sung from the very start,” the gunman grinned in a very scary way.

*

Once the others got back, with two spare horses too, the younger Akanishi approached the bounty hunter with a strange expression in his face.

“Sooner or later someone will find and untie you…” Leo said. “Or not; that´s not my problem anymore. But do _not ever_ come after me again, Harvey.”

The hunter was repaying that serious look wordlessly, wondering just what could make that youngster to be… to be the way he was.

“Koki, cover his eyes,” Akanishi asked the youngster standing nearby and turned away.

Harvey stared at that unusual young man and something made him speak for one more time: “Akanishi – just a friendly advice.”

Leo Akanishi turned with his eyebrows raised, while his Riders stared at the hunter in a very hostile way, including the blonde one preparing a long strip of dark cloth.

“I´m surprised about you using a _friendly word_ towards me, but I´m listening…” Leo reacted carefully.

“Nobody has ever surprised me as you did today. Or maybe you´re just plain stupid, I don´t know,” Harvey laughed shortly.

The blonde Rider approached Harvey with a clear intention to hit, but his young leader stopped him with a raised palm: “And?” he asked.

”I _might_ give up on you,” Harvey continued. “It seems to me that the reward on your head is not worth of all those troubles… But Tabor will _never_ let you go.”

“Are you planning on helping him out with it?” Akanishi asked coldly.

“Well, I don´t think so...” the bounty hunter admitted with a weird smirk. “Tabor doesn´t like mishaps, and considering how your _capture_ worked out, he might want his money back. Well… I suppose I should rather avoid Denver for a while.”

“Oh, really?” the black-haired Rider, standing behind his blonde companion, snorted. “Nice speech for a bloody bounty hunter.”

“You don´t have to believe me,” Harvey would have shrugged, if the ties were not so firm, preventing him from it. “It´s the risk you take since you´re letting me live.”

“That´s right… I do,” Leo confirmed with that incredible certainty. “For the first and last time... Goodbye, Harvey.”

***

 

Exhausted, aching, thirsty and hungry, but relieved, the Black Riders left the spot of the bloody clash long after lunchtime. To confuse Harvey, who was surely listening to where they would go, they headed to the south through the forest first, before returning to the right west direction. For the return journey, they agreed on avoiding the road as much as was possible, and with a half of their group wounded, they proceeded quite slowly and did not get far.

They stopped very early, with a few hours of daylight still left from that day, as they really needed some rest. Cullen found a convenient spot on a small glade, far off the road, hidden behind the thick bushes and high rock.

 

Leo felt as if he was dreaming, until Jin hit him. That blow assured him that the shootout between his dear Riders and Harvey´s men was a bloody reality. They really came to rescue him and Jane, following them all that way, not giving up on him, despite his stupidity.

He was sitting on an old stump, feeling dizzy from the loss of blood, watching somewhat slow activities in their small temporary camp.

Cullen was commanding grumpy Koki to take a proper care of the horses, while Ryo was setting up a fire, carefully picking up some dry sticks, not to cause too much of dark smoke. Kame was cleaning and binding up Jin´s wound so firmly, it was a wonder there was any blood left in his brother´s arm. Leo didn´t wonder that Jin didn´t dare to complain; the younger one could be quite terrifying when he was angry… And his brave Jane, his love which he had almost lost… She was preparing some meal for everybody from their supplies, smiling at him when she noticed Leo´s glance. The brunette didn´t comment on his decision to let Harvey go yet, but somehow, Leo felt Jane was glad he did it. The members of their gang could be described with many words, but they were not cold-blood murderers.

Leo watched all those little scenes and felt happy. He had the best friends, brother and girlfriend ever. If he was not too ashamed for that, he would have cried.

*

When everyone finally gathered around the small campfire, they sat down very quietly. Not because there would be nothing to say; they were just too tired and they had to focus all their remaining energy to stay awake. Jane divided some dried beef, tough cheese and pieces of bread between everyone and they chewed on it in deep silence for a while.

“Thank you,” Leo stated suddenly, turning a piece of bread in his fingers sheepishly. “Thank you, guys. I didn´t even hope…”

“Well, we couldn´t let our most beautiful member get hurt, right?” Ryo, already finished with his dinner and altering the fire, complimented Jane with a wide grin.

“Oh, thank you for remembering me as well,” the brunette smiled playfully, while Leo seemed to be little aggrieved.

“You´re very welcome, sweetheart…” Ryo reacted before turning to the silent leader. “Leo, you didn´t really think we would let you march to the gallows, did you?”

“Too soon for that, Chief,” Koki nodded right away.

“But we might reconsider if you ever do something like that again,” Jin, brushing the last crumbs from his trousers down, growled threateningly.

Leo sighed: “I just couldn´t…”

“…act otherwise,” Cullen completed him quickly. “It was stupid and reckless and I should have slapped you for it, but I suppose that hit from your brother was sufficient enough.”

The silence fell on the little camp again, with just a breeze hustling in the treetops above them, while the deputy and the leader of the Riders exchanged the long looks.

“I´m sorry,” Leo stated in a hoarse voice. “I´m really sorry, but I _had to_ try it alone.”

“We know that, Leo,” Ryo reacted, without even a hint of smile this time.

“Yeah, we know, and in a way I can even understand,” Cullen continued less harshly. “We all voted for you to be the leader knowing what you´re like, so it´s too late to complain now.”

“I wouldn´t have said it better,” the black-haired one agreed.

Leo´s face brightened a little: “I…” he started, but once again, he wasn´t allowed to speak.

“But try something like that again and I´ll kill you myself,” Cullen warned him in the end, making the young leader lower his head guiltily.

“After me, though,” Jin insisted right away.

“I wouldn´t risk that, they sound serious,” Ryo winked at their unhappy leader.

“No need to worry, I would have defended you, Leo,” the blonde Rider announced proudly.

“And that was supposed to calm Leo down?” Ryo raised an eyebrow, calling up a nearest stick on his head.

“Dickhead,” Koki expressed his opinion about such a taunting.

“The main thing is that you´re both all right,” Kame said quietly and both Leo and Jane looked at him gratefully for saying something nice at least.

“That´s right!” Koki joined him, got up and started digging in one of the rucksacks, which they packed with the stuff they took from the dead gunmen. “Which means we have to… celebrate!” victoriously, he pulled out a big bottle of something suspiciously dark.

After a short incredulous silence, Ryo started to laugh and at the same time search for some cups, into which they could pour the liquid. Cullen face palmed himself, murmuring something over the young people´s disability to read any atmosphere. Jane reached out and took Leo´s hand into hers. He repaid her smile and hugged her shoulders tightly. And Jin found himself unsuccessfully trying to catch Kame´s look, as the younger one seemed to be busy with the fireplace, his face unreadable…


	28. Ways of desire

**J** in was not a very patient man. Somehow, he understood why Kame got so upset, but that didn´t mean he was willing to bear with his non-speaking attitude for long.

The Black Riders finished their dinner and shared a bottle of whiskey in more or less positive atmosphere, as the second drink they toasted with was on their fallen friends in Leadville. They remembered Oswald´s sister Olivia as well, when Ryo informed Leo and Jane about the telegram from the old man. Not to mention that they didn´t know yet if Nick managed to recover from that ugly stabbing – they could be even one more member less now…

Esler insisted on keeping double patrols, no matter how much all of them needed some sleep. It would be too risky to be careless, when they didn´t know what Harvey would do once he would be found tied to that beautiful tree. He might really scamper off from Colorado, but he might organize a search for them too. And that could happen the day after tomorrow as well as this very evening already.

Jin was in no mood for early sleeping, so he voluntarily enrolled for the first watch and left the campsite to take a piss, not caring about who would be assigned with him.

When he returned, Leo with Jane were curled up not far from the fireplace, whispering something to each other in a tight hug, while the blonde Rider had already fallen asleep, buried under his blanket. Only Ryo and smoking Esler remained sitting at the fire yet, passing to each other what was left from the whiskey. Jin sat down next to the younger man and accepted the bottle as well.

“Can you really manage the watch with that wound of yours?” Ryo asked him. “I can take it instead, if you want.”

“No, I´m fine. It´s just a scratch,” Jin assured him, taking a long gulp. That gunshot wound was not a big deal, but it still hurt as hell and he welcomed the calming effects of alcohol.

“All right, you take it with Kamenashi then,” Esler announced, and lit another cigarette.

 _What a surprise_ , Jin thought gloomily. _One would think he´d like to avoid me more._

“Where is he, anyway?” he asked aloud. He was wondering about the whereabouts of the younger one since the moment he noticed Kame wasn´t present at the fire, but he had enough self-control not raise that question right away.

“He went to gather more wood for the night, down to the brook,” Ryo replied, taking the bottle back from Jin with a calculative smirk, before he could protest. “You can go to help him, we won´t fall asleep so quickly. I need to taste this curious liquid properly…”

Jin huffed and opened his mouth to object something, but then he reconsidered.

Esler leant forward and jerked the bottle out of Ryo´s hand: “ _We_ will taste it, my dear friend. Don´t think you´ll drink the rest of this yourself.”

Ryo seemed a little disappointed, but wisely did not protest.

“Enjoy your selfish drink then,” Jin wished them tauntingly and got up again.

*

Cullen watched the older Akanishi leaving, until his figure disappeared between the trees. Then he turned back towards the fire and noticed a strange smile on the younger Rider´s face.

“What?” he asked sharply. He didn´t like the mischievous way by that Ryo was observing him.

“It´s just good to see that they´ve finally gained your trust,” the other one shrugged.

Cullen snorted: “I didn´t say I trust them…”

“You didn´t have to,” Ryo smirked. “And it was about time, anyway.”

“Better be safe than sorry,” he reacted stiffly.

“I won´t argue with you about that,” the younger one agreed. “And give me that bottle, for God´s sake.”

*

The cheerfully flowing stream was located quite low under the steep hill, on which they camped. Jin walked towards it slowly, his eyes searching through the woods for any movement and he found Kame quite easily – the younger one was gathering the washed up branches on the bank of a little cove.

Jin approached the place and stopped next to a subtle tree, waiting for the other one to note his presence. It took longer than was usual for Kame, but in the end, he took a notice of him, when he leant down for the stick in Jin´s direction. The younger one flinched, a little startled, before his eyes focused on the ground again, not saying a word.

Unsatisfied Jin pressed his lips together. He was already really tired, and starting to be upset, but at the same time, he felt a little guilty… It was hard to talk with silent Kame.

Quite a lot of branches were thrown onto the previous waiting pile, and the skillful hands started tying it up with a rope.

“Just for how long are you going to keep this up?” Jin asked more harshly than he intended.

Kame finished the firm knot first, before he straightened up and finally looked at him.

“I had asked you to be careful. Did I really want that much?” Kame reacted, with a clear rebuke in his voice.

That was more than enough to rouse Jin´s anger: “What did you expect? My brother was in mortal danger!” he snapped loudly, startling some birds on the tree above them, so that they flew off with the alarmed shrieks.

“And what about the danger which was aiming at _you_?!” Kame raised his voice as well. “There were three gunmen shooting at you and you didn´t even _try_ to dodge!”

“If I could save Leo that way, the hell I cared!” Jin reacted fiercely.

Kame stood there motionlessly for a while, his expression hurt: “Yeah… I get it,” he said very quietly then. “You don´t give a damn what it´d have done to me. How I´d have felt if something happened to you.”

Jin froze, staring at the younger one, suddenly realizing the sadness in his eyes.

“Kame…” he took two hesitant steps towards him.

“It´s all right,” the other one didn´t let him talk. “I know how important Leo is to you.”

Kame spoke as if he was reconciled with it, but still so damn sadly and Jin couldn´t bear it: “I didn´t mean to… I just _couldn´t_ think clearly in that situation!”

“I know…” the younger one reacted with a short sigh. “It´s just that… I was so damn scared…”

Jin gulped down a heavy lump in his throat, seeing his boyfriend looking like a picture of misery.

“I´m sorry, Jin, I overreacted,” Kame said suddenly and leant down to the pile of branches again. “I just need some rest, we all do…”

But Jin didn´t let him make even one step and he hugged Kazuya from behind, leaning the chin on his shoulder.

“I´m sorry too…” he whispered unhappily, tightening the grasp around the slender form. “It was just too sudden…”

Kame let go of the rope, giving in to Jin´s hug tiredly: “It´s like that with everything, right? Everything is falling upon us like an avalanche.”

“It will be better now, you´ll see,” Jin said, trying to be positive.

“I want to believe that, Jin…” the younger one reacted thoughtfully. “I really want.”

Jin released his grip, but just to turn Kame around, so that he could see the younger´s troubled face.

“I´ll make it better right now then,” he stated determinedly, and captured Kame´s lips in a demanding kiss.

*

When Kame recognized the righteous indignation in Jin´s voice, he suddenly felt so ashamed for his reaction. It was clear from the very beginning how much Jin cared for his younger brother and how badly Leo´s disappearance influenced him. Kame promised to himself to keep an eye over the older one just because of that - he _expected_ his handsome lover to lose his composure.

But despite that unspoken promise, he burst out at the first serious occasion, after he saw Jin riding to meet the ugly black barrels. Jin just selflessly helped his younger sibling - that was not something what Kame should reproach him for, it was what Jin was like and he loved him for that as well as for many other things. He could blame fatigue or taunt nerves, but still, he should have thought first, before snapping at the older one.

Kame´s apology was sincere; he felt awful for being so selfish, thinking only about himself. Not wanting to bother Jin with his mood slips even more, he intended to go back up to the camp, but to his surprise and great relief, the strong arms prevented him from that.

Kame realized just how much he _needed_ that touch; he needed to feel Jin close, to make sure that the other one was there. It was the only real certainty he had recently. It felt even more exhilarating than usually to be kissed by those full lips. Only their physical connection could make him feel at ease finally.

Jin´s tongue requested the gateway inside his mouth, making Kazuya gasp. He let himself be overwhelmed by that warm feeling, which spread into him from every spot, with which he was attached to the older one´s body. Circling both arms around Jin´s neck, he tried to pay him back with the kissing, but his action felt so desperate that Kame could only let him conquer his lips.

He felt the older one´s hands slipping down to grab his waist and pull his body closer, which got him even warmer. Kazuya caressed the visitor in his mouth tenderly, noticing how Jin shivered. Excited from that desirable closeness, he let himself literally sink into the safe hug.

Jin gave up on one spot around his waist, and buried the fingers into his hair, holding Kame´s head firmly, while he sucked on his lips, as if there was no tomorrow. Their heated kissing sent Kame´s heart on such a lovely race…

*

It was almost as if Jin always forgot just _how much_ he missed kissing the younger one, until they could get some privacy to do it again. He always felt greedier; he always wanted to hold Kazuya closer, even if it was not possible.

He broke away from those tempting lips, keeping his eyes closed and savoring on the scent of the young man in his arms. Kazuya buried his face into the bend between Jin´s neck and shoulder, obviously not very willing to interrupt their hug. Neither Jin was. It felt too good for that.

They didn´t move, or talk for a long while, enjoying that moment, which felt even more precious after everything what had happened recently. Then the younger one raised his head and caressed both Jin´s shoulders slowly.

“We should go back before they begin to worry…” Kame whispered.

That statement didn´t surprise Jin at all. But sometimes, it was _really annoying_ , how responsible Kame could be.

“They´ll manage without us for a while…” he reacted hoarsely and slipped with both his hands down to Kame´s trousers.

The younger one pushed himself a little further away, realizing the impatient fingers unbuttoning him: “Jin…”

“Just shut up for a moment, Kazuya…” the older one requested and started kissing his lips again, hastily and hungrily, securely stopping the younger´s objections with it. Not that he would have met much opposition, when his fingers did their work finally and Jin could get under the annoying cloth.

With his mouth sealed, Kame gasped, when Jin´s fingers closed around his shaft tenderly and started stroking across its whole length. The younger one escaped from Jin´s lips to breathe in some air, and with his eyes closed, he eagerly gave in to the seductive touch. Jin felt the warm flesh hardening quickly and that sensation sent the hot wave of desire into his own head. A little harshly, he pushed Kazuya back to lean him on a tree and continued the teasing more urgently.

Kazuya was looking him in the eyes, his arms wrapped around Jin´s neck almost desperately, his lips partially open and his chest rising in the quick intervals. And Jin _loved_ to see that handsome flushed face from so close up.

“Oh, my… Jin… This is…” Kame tried to speak coherently, but without much success.

“Ssh,” Jin laid a finger over the younger´s lips, strengthening his gentle grip. Kame´s body started to shake a little and his breathing got heavier.

“More… I want… you too…” he urged, trying to get further away from the rousing touches.

Jin pressed Kame back over the tree trunk more firmly, to prevent him from moving and fastened his movements.

“No…” he rejected. “Just you now…”

The look of the goldish eyes locked with his and it made Jim lean forward, approaching those shaking lips again. While he kept caressing Kazuya´s hot member, he kissed him heatedly and that silenced the younger one quite easily.

Jin couldn´t even imagine that the sight of the young man desperately gasping for breath, as he got more and more aroused, his shaft throbbing in Jin´s hold, would be so damn hot and that he would enjoy it that much. Concluding the erotic rubbing with the quick hard strokes, Jin made Kame come with the long moan of pleasure.

Shaking Kazuya was literally hanging onto him for a while, before his eyes opened, the excited shine fading only slowly in them.

“Damn it, Jin…”

Smiling, the older one hugged Kame again and kissed him tenderly. But when he wanted to withdraw, the younger one didn´t let him and sucked on Jin´s lips, while his hands went down, conquering the other´s pants.

“Hey, you don´t have to…” Jin objected feebly.

“It´s your turn now,” Kame hushed him right away and with an unexpectedly swift move, he shifted their positions, so that Jin´s was the one leaning on the hard bark of the tree.

Kazuya´s movements were much slower than his own were before and they felt so damn gently torturous, that Jin thought that sensation would swallow him whole. He fought for breath no less helplessly than the younger one, feeling his shining eyes upon himself.

The warm sexy motions all along his hard member and testicles were pulling him up to the bright world of arousal so quickly, that it was impossible to make his brain work and even think about another way of satisfaction. He was too lost in the delightful pleasure…

*

It felt incredible. Their bodies missed each other so much, that both of them reached their climax just by the mutual touches. Certainly, it was also the after-effect of the recent adrenaline happenings, but still… Kame would have felt ashamed not being for the older one in the same state as him, and Jin was still amazed by his overwhelming reaction to anything the younger one did.

With their legs shaking, they both pulled their trousers back up, and they cleaned themselves in the water stream, before their eyes connected again. Kame approached Jin slowly and quivering, he pecked his swollen lips. Jin didn´t let him retreat then and pulled the younger one even closer, kissing Kame back deeply.

“That was… very nice,” he stated huskily then.

Which was an awful understatement; Jin knew that. He literally needed a release of that kind. Not that he would not have welcomed even more, he was still eager to conquer that slim body again, but for that moment it was enough. And Kame´s smile was hiding something more than just a satisfaction they brought to each other, too.

“But don´t think that with _this_ you´ve fulfilled the promise…” Jin continued.

That statement confused Kame and his fingers stopped playing with the collar of Jin´s shirt: “What do you mean?”

“You still owe me _a date_ ,” the older one reminded him in a voice, which made Kame´s heartbeat faster again.

“Ah, that…”

“Yes, _that_.”

*

 

When they finally forced themselves to get back to the quietly crackling fire, the sun was long hidden behind the tops of the Rocky Mountains. The evening chill ruled over the little campsite, making all resting Riders, including Ryo, huddle under their blankets. Cullen was the last one remaining awake and his sharp eyes pierced both youngsters, when they appeared with armful of branches.

“It took you long enough,” he grunted as a welcome.

“But we gathered _enough_ for the whole night, so you guys don´t have to worry about it,” Jin reacted with a wide grin, putting the heavy load on the pile near their small bonfire, as well as Kame, who kept his eyes lowered.

“And that´s your only luck,” Esler wrinkled his eyebrows and he got up to grab a blanket for himself as well. “Ryo and Koki should take the watch after you,” he added. “Wake them up earlier, if you feel you won´t manage it, is that clear? I don´t want us to be unguarded…”

“Sure thing, boss,” Jin saluted cheerfully.

Esler froze in the middle of movement, as he was settling with the legs towards the fire and stared at Akanishi, while Kame turned away, pretending to check on their horses, while hopelessly covering an amused chuckle.

“Good to see you´ve got so much energy left,” the older man noted in the end. “Good night.”

 

It didn´t take long before Cullen dropped off, and started snoring a little.

Kame richly added to the fire, making the flames go higher and creating the play of yellow light over the sleeping gang. He kept crouching by it for a while, making sure that the sparkles would not get in the direction of their sleeping friends, while Jin picked one of the boulders and nestled there leaning over it. His belt with the re-loaded revolvers was put aside on it, just behind his head and he had prepared one rifle, which was leaning over the boulder from the side, too.

Jin reached for the flask with the water and drank from it, while his eyes watched the younger one taking care of the fire.

*

Kame stared into the flames for a while, trying to hold onto that calmness inside him, which had arrived along with his reconciliation with Jin. But from some reason, no matter how hard he tried to persuade himself, that they had no reason to worry for the moment and they could rest, he couldn´t get rid of that faint anxiety, which made his stomach squeeze.

Reaching his hands towards the flames, to warm them up, his eyes went down to them. He had tried to wash it out, but there were still stains of blood on the sleeves of his coat. Not his blood, but of those gunmen they killed, as he had helped to drag them away from the road. And it was also Jin´s blood, from how he treated that gunshot wound in his shoulder. The older one was damn lucky the bullet did not hit any artery and just scratched him.

Kame stared at the stains blindly, wondering if they could get at least a few days of real peace now. At least _a few_ …

“Kazu…” a quiet voice made him look at the older one, who sat nearby. Jin pointed at the folded spare shirt in his lap. “Come here…”

Kame took a breath: “Jin… We need to stay on alert.”

“I will. You just lie down and rest a little,” the older one reacted.

“But…”

“Nothing perverted, I swear,” Jin interrupted him mockingly. “Just come…”

Kame didn´t need to be persuaded any further; he felt tired enough to just lie down and relax, when he had a chance. One more time, he glanced over the sleeping Riders, then he took one of the last blankets, settled down on the tanned leather, which served all of them as a mattress, and he laid his head in Jin´s lap, facing the fire.

He felt the other´s eyes upon himself and then his fingers, moving the hair strands off his forehead. That touch was so gentle and so nice it made Kame close his eyes and sigh softly.

“You can have a nap if you want…” hearing Jin´s voice from that angle was different, it was deeper somewhat and calming. The fingers ran lower, stroking across his cheek and jaw. “I´ll be watching…”

Kame didn´t want Jin to take all the responsibility for the night´s watch on himself, but he was too tired to open his eyes again.

“All right… Just don´t forget to… wake me before…”

“Don´t worry and sleep already.”

There was no way to deny that “order”, and so Kame simply obeyed.

*

Kazuya´s breathing slowed down and deepened in no time. From his profile in the golden light of the fire, Jin could see that it was finally relaxed now. He reached out and pulled the blanket higher, to cover the young man in his lap properly. Then he took out a threadbare box of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one of them up.

Jin was smoking carefully, so that no ashes would fall down on his boyfriend. He knew Kame didn´t like this habit of his, but Jin really enjoyed the smell of it, and the sight of the smoke disappearing in the air. It was calming him down. He didn´t have much of tobacco left, there were only two of his hand-rolled cigarettes in the box, so it seemed he would have to give up on them for some time anyway.

The eyes of the smoking gunslinger focused in the direction of their horses. Only one animal head was not lowered in their deserved rest – the black stallion was awake, looking into the dark woods and his ears moved from time to time, listening to the sounds of the night wild life. Jin smiled for himself – Kuro was on the guard with him.

His attention once again turned to Kazuya resting under his private surveillance. Jin touched his quite quickly growing hair pensively. The sleeping one didn´t move even a bit, sinking in a deep sleep, completely relaxed.

Being much calmer now, Jin could see the point of Kazuya´s heated reaction clearly. Just imagining, that the younger one would have been targeted as he was on that day, the death in the form of even one precise bullet hanging above his head, squeezed something inside his chest painfully. Jin would have freaked out as well… It was good they were able to talk it out.

 _Well, more than good_ , Jin corrected himself, remembering the hot release.

Having the weight of the younger one upon himself, he was tempted to wake Kame up but this time, Jin pushed his desire away. They could steal some privacy for themselves again later… And he was definitely planning to use the very first opportunity to make up for the lack of having Kame for himself.


	29. Nine Riders

**T** he sun rose the next day, the same as every morning before and flooded foothills of the Rocky Mountains with its warm beams, melting the snow, which still covered the tops of the highest peaks. On the slopes below them and in the valleys, the winter was long forgotten though and the rocky hills got lively with the usual spring masquerade of young elks chasing each other between the bushes, while squirrels did the same in the treetops, their games accompanied with the orchestra of flying inhabitants of the woods.

At the daybreak, it was the black-haired Rider guarding his sleeping mates, finishing his second night patrol. Yawning Ryo was poking the fire without any real purpose, waiting for Cullen´s return, as the older man set off to check on the road an hour ago.

Of the others, only Jane got up already and after assuring him that her ankle was much better, she slowly headed to the brook for the fresh water. After a while, Ryo added a few thick branches to the flames, so that they could prepare some coffee, once Jane would be back. Then he noticed that his blonde buddy started to stir under the blanket.

Koki sat up scratching his head and glanced around sleepily.

“God, I was never happier to get some sleep,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes.

“That´s hard to believe, considering how much you love napping all the time,” Ryo chuckled.

“Bah…” the blonde one stuck out a tongue on him and got up. “Where´s Cullen and Jane?” he asked, noticing that they were missing some members.

“Our old wolf went to check on the road, he should be back soon. Jane went to the brook.”

“Good, good, I´d like to have a cup of black coffee then, pretty please.”

“I´m not your servant, man,” Ryo snickered.

“I´ve asked nicely,” his companion reacted indignantly, walking around the fire. “You could appreciate that, at least.”

Ryo just shook his head, while Koki continued towards the trees, probably to relieve himself, when he suddenly stopped.

“Hey! Hey!” the blonde Rider lowered his voice and started to wave at him.

“What is it now?” Ryo eyed his sudden excitement confusedly.

“Come and see for yourself!” the other one whispered, pointing down at the lines of two bodies under the blankets. “And be quiet! Don´t wake them up!”

Frowning, and having no idea what could be so interesting about sleeping Kame and Jin, Ryo stood up and approached the spot bordered by two boulders, which those two chose for the night, to see what Koki did.

The older one was lying on his back, his lips parted a little and one of his arms was circled around the younger´s body, as Kame was nestled with his head resting on Jin´s chest, probably also hugging him under the blanket. They were fast asleep, not being aware of their surroundings at all.

“They´re so cuuute!” Koki was grinning from ear to ear.

Ryo just had to smile as well; the two probably snuggled together sometimes during the night unconsciously, to warm themselves up. However, it was unusual they didn´t woke up each other; they had to be really tired.

“Jane! Perfect timing! Give me some of it!” the blonde one rushed to meet the brunette, who had just returned with all their bottles full.

“What? Why?” Jane observed the Rider uncomprehendingly, as he pulled one of the flasks from her grip.

“Ssh!” Koki hushed her and tiptoed back to the sleeping ´couple´.

Jane followed him, frowning a little, until she approached close enough to see Jin with Kame and then she understood the blonde one´s intention right away: “Oh, come on! How old are you, Tanaka?”

“Do not spoil all the fun, Jane,” Ryo whispered urgently, and retreated a little back, not to be within the reach, when Koki leant above Jin´s head.

Jane bit her lower lip, hesitating if she should stop such a stupid joke, but before she could decide, Koki had already poured a good dose of ice-cold water all over Akanishi´s face.

The so far peacefully sleeping gunslinger sat up so violently that it made both Jane and Ryo wince. Kame fell from him to the side and knocked out of his breath, he opened his eyes in shock to see Jin armed. The blonde one´s laughter hitched in his throat, when he realized the dangerous barrel aiming at him.

“Hey, easy! Easy! It was just a joke!” Koki started coughing heavily, as he was still half-laughing and raised both hands to show he was harmless.

“What the hell is this fuss about?!” Leo, also disturbed from his sleep, rose up on his elbows.

Motionless Jin stared at the blonde Rider, the water dripping from his hair. Kame was finally able to comprehend the situation somehow, dug himself out from the blankets and placed a hand on the older one´s shoulder.

“You can put that down, Jin…”

The other one let go of a deep breath, which he held until that moment and finally lowered his revolver.

Jane proceeded to smirking Koki, yanked the bottle from his fingers with one hand and hit over his head with the other: “Your idiotic ideas will kill you one day!” she scolded him.

But the blonde one was not concerned about the treatment at all, repaying the older Akanishi´s stare firmly.

“What the fuck did you do that for?” Jin asked, almost gritting his teeth.

Koki shrugged: “You can take it as a payback for knocking me down back then.”

Jin stiffened. While Jane and Leo looked at each other confusedly, Ryo and Kame knew what Koki was referring to - the rupture back at the cottage, when Jin wanted to rush off to Leadville all alone.

“Fair enough…” the older one murmured in the end and hid the gun back to its sheath, which was hidden under the blanket close to his hand for the whole night.

“Not to mention that I couldn´t help it, really. You two were too sweet,” Koki added with the grin spreading his lips again.

Already fully awake Kame looked at the Rider alarmed, while Jin knitted his eyebrows: “What? What are you talking about?”

“You were hugging each other while sleeping,” Ryo explained, his lips twitching in the smile as well.

“Just like two lovebirds,” Koki continued mocking the stiffened guys.

Disheveled Leo, who joined them as well now, burst out laughing: “Really?”

“You should have seen them, Chief,” the blonde one confirmed, still greatly amused.

“Don´t look so horrified, Jin,” Ryo contributed to the general amusement too. “You seemed to be pretty much content.”

Kame, whose face was turning redder with each word, wasn´t able of any reaction. Only Jin finally shook the first panic off.

“You´re right, I had been sleeping like a baby until a _certain dumbass_ decided to give me a morning shower for free.”

The whole campsite echoed with the cheerful laughter of three Riders, when Jin got up promptly, ignoring them. Only Jane observed the situation carefully, noticing that unlike Jin, Kame was still anxious. The younger´s fingers were squeezing the crumpled blankets and there was no amusement in his face, even though he tried to smile.

Considering their circumstances, Jane almost felt sorry for them. It must have been hard, to realize they had no control over what they did subconsciously…

She clapped her hands to attract the attention to herself: “If you´re done with childish games, you can help me out to prepare some breakfast!”

“Ryo will help you!” Koki reacted immediately and rushed to the trees. “I need to pee!”

“That´s a pathetic excuse!” the mentioned Rider called over to him.

“I´ll help you, my love,” Leo took Jane into his arms, pecking her lips. “Good morning…”

She repaid his greeting smiling, but still watched Kame, who took a small towel and headed away from the camp, soon followed by Jin. Everybody seemed to forget about the morning incident quickly, except those two, she would have bet…

*

 

Jin managed to calm down completely, before he reached the cheerful stream. It was an ugly wake-up and he was actually surprised about his own reaction, when he reached for the gun immediately, ready to face any danger. The recent happenings probably ruffled his nerves more than he had thought. Adding that stupid taunting, which made him quite nervous at first, before he realized that everyone took it as a fun, it was some morning after such an enjoyable night…

They rested so close to each other because it was impossible to move sleeping Kame away, when their part of the watch ended. So, Jin had just lied down right next to him. He didn´t realize it might have caused such a fuss in the morning.

He found Kazuya almost drenching himself in the splashes of cold water. Jin noticed that the younger one was very sheepish about the whole situation, more than himself. Kame looked up at him from behind the strands of wet hair and he rubbed his face dry before straightening up.

“I´m sorry I…” they both started talking at the same time.

Finally, for the first time since the waking-up, Kame smiled: “I didn´t realize what I did during the night, Jin.”

He sighed: “Me neither, so we´re even in that.”

“They just… It surprised me,” the younger one said hesitantly. “I didn´t know what to say.”

“It´s all right, Kazu, it was just a joke,” Jin assured him. “They didn´t… figure anything out.”

“Yeah, I guess you´re right… But we need to be more careful…”

“Oh, come on…” the older one caught Kame´s elbow and pulled him closer. “I think we´re _too_ careful already.”

“That´s not…”

“Enough of this,” Jin cut in, not really willing to spoil a nice morning any further. “I want my morning kiss...”

Kame dodged his attempt in the last second: “You´re too careless,” he reproached to Jin, his eyes running over the woods in the direction of the camp.

“And you´re too responsible, so it´s balanced, I guess,” the other one reacted immediately. “And if you don´t give it to me, I will take it,” he stated in a deeper voice.

The younger one turned to Jin again and something inside him happily gave in to that request in the dark orbs. He jumped around the older one´s neck, surprising Jin a little with the urgency he clung to his lips.

Their tongues touched each other only teasingly at first; before they gave everything they had into the battle over ruling the other and ended up in a slow passionate finale. Short of breath, and in a tight embrace, they looked at each other and smiled in the exactly same way, before they kissed again. And then again.

*

 

Cullen came back to the camp just in time for breakfast, and informed them that the main road seemed abandoned and all the surrounding areas were peaceful with no sign of any fuss. No matter that, they still intended to avoid the easiest access to Leadville on the way back to the west, just to be safe.

Kame checked on Jane´s sprinkled ankle again, which seemed to be just fine, not considering the small swelling, and Leo´s leg was healing well too. A scratch on Jin´s arm was almost nothing comparing it to the injuries he had in the past, but Kame gave a special attention to it anyway.

Then, after packing all their things again, with Esler leading the way, and with Jin and Kame closing it, they set off on somewhat lengthy travel back, which was good for everyone, including the animals. For once, they had no special reason to rush so much…

*

 

No discussion about the stop in Leadville was necessary. Everybody took it as a given fact - they just couldn´t pass by the city without stopping at the cemetery. Even if they knew, it would be a very sad visit… But they needed and wanted to say the last goodbye.

Six new crosses on the very edge of depressing graves field indicated the places of the last rest for their friends. Four of them were left unmarked, as only Benny and Todd were known in Leadville; Carl, Patrick, Ian and Sherman had their homeland somewhere else and almost nobody outside the gang knew their names.

The Black Riders´ leader stood there, watching those recently created graves in silence, while squeezing the hand of the sad brunette next to him. The glum faces of Esler, Ryo and Koki expressed their grief as well, as they remembered their late companions. They lost too many of them at once, just too many…

Jin and Kame remained a little behind, guarding the horses, while checking on the road around the cemetery for any intruders. The hunched backs of the gang were a sad sight to witness. Comparing to the time when they got to know them, not many were left from the Riders.

Despite not many people wandering around the cemetery, they didn´t stay there for long. But at least, they wanted to use the opportunity for necessary shopping, which was planned days ago. So while Ryo, Kame and Koki headed to the city center; Leo, Jane, Cullen and Jin chose one of the outskirts taverns, which was not exactly a frequented spot, to wait for them.

It took quite long before the shopping group returned, so long that Jin had already proposed to go after them, when Kame finally appeared in the door of the pub. Relieved that they could get out, they reunited with Koki and Ryo, who were waiting outside with the loaded horses. But their departure didn´t do without a small dispute…

“What the hell is _this_?” Cullen asked pointing at the small cart pulled by a grey donkey.

Both Koki and Ryo created the charming smiles all over their faces.

“We agreed on deserving some proper reward for our efforts while rescuing our dear leader with his lovely girlfriend,” Ryo reacted pompously.

“Make it short, damn it!” the older Rider snapped impatiently. “What´s in those barrels?”

“Just a little bit of tasty frothy drink for everyone,” Koki announced proudly.

Cullen huffed, as he expected nothing else.

“Where did you get the money for it?!” Jane placed her hands on hips, piercing them with her eyes strictly. “We had barely enough for what I´ve sent you!”

Both Riders shook their heads in quite a carefree way.

“Don´t worry, dear,” Ryo assured her. “We stopped by our _favorite_ tavern.”

“Yeah, they released that tough old man from the clinic,” Koki added. “He put it up on our debt. And I dare to say he´ll never want us to pay for it.”

“One would say he´d be angry with us, but not at all… And he even borrowed us this little boy,” the black-haired one patted the calm animal. “Seems he didn´t like Duggan much…”

“What?! You risked going there again?!” Cullen´s voice creaked a little. “How could you…!? What if someone…!” he suddenly paused and looked at the third member of the shopping group, who remained silent so far, soothing the white mare calmly. “Kamenashi! Why didn´t you stop them? At least you could use your brain!”

Kame, quite surprised that the older man turned the conversation towards him, seemed to be seriously insulted: “I´ve tried but I´m not their nursemaid,” he protested indignantly.

“Stop fussing, old man. I bet you´ll be the first to tap a tankard,” Koki grinned.

Cullen face-palmed himself in defeat, murmuring something about irresponsible idiots, while Jane sighed, asking them if they got everything she requested at least. Only both Akanishi brothers seemed to have a good fun behind Cullen´s back.

Finally, after the purposeless argument that there was no need to show themselves off more than necessary, they finally set off on the way back to their cottage, where, as they all hoped, their youngest member Jack and wounded Nick would be waiting for them…

***

 

Many folds of the dark purple satin dress rustled as Augusta Tabor walked through the long corridor leading to the workroom of Lieutenant Governor – her husband. She wanted to keep a cool head, but with each step, she was just getting angrier. There was a border to what she was willing to bear and Horace stepped over it too often in the past half a year.

With an imperious gesture, Augusta waved the black servant away – she was fed up of being announced in advance like some uninvited guest. She took the handle resolutely and entered the room filled with the heavy smoke. She wrinkled her nose in disgust – those cigars smelled worse every time she got to encounter them.

The Governor raised his head from the stack of newspapers, which were spread all around his table, that damn smoking thing in the corner of his mouth.

“You forgot to knock, dear,” Horace commented her arrival.

“And _you_ forgot to come for dinner!” she crossed the expensive carpet and stopped right in front of that messed table. “My parents bothered to travel all the way here from Maine and you let us wait?!”

“Eat without me; I have work to do,” her ´dear´ husband announced rather stiffly and with no remorse in his voice.

“What kind of work you might have with this dirty pile? Building paper ships?” she asked mockingly.

The look, which Horace gave her then, made Augusta freeze. There was nothing but annoyance in those eyes. Nothing was left from what she used to see in them years ago.

“I said I´m busy. Be so kind and leave me alone, _wife_ ,” Horace snorted scornfully. “Say my regards to your parents.”

*

The door of his workroom finally closed again, though with a bang which made the nearest picture on the wall go swinging. Horace frowned and thought that his wife should definitely work on controlling her emotions more.

Quite annoyed, he put a half-done cigar down in the ashtray and called to Betsy.

“Any new message?” he asked sharply, once her black head appeared between the doors.

“No, sir. I will come to tell you right away if so, sir.”

“Bring me Dick then; I want to send a telegram,” Horace decided suddenly. He had enough of waiting already.

“But sir, the post office is already closed…”

“Now!” he snapped impatiently. The woman nodded and hastily retreated to fill his command.

Tabor got up and approached the window to look down at the dark street. There was no word from the bounty hunter or Duggan since three days ago, when they were supposed to leave Leadville with Leo Akanishi captured. They should have been in Denver already, even if they had proceeded in a slug´s pace.

He would send an express telegram to the Sheriff in Leadville; he might know if something happened. And Trent rather _should_ have some information for him. Even if he had to make the man to search the whole Rocky Mountains, he would find out what went wrong.

***

 

It was the fourth evening after they had left, when Jack kept trying to see through the deepening shadows between the trees if he would spot his returning buddies. The anxiety and worries deepened inside the youngest Rider with each passed day. He realized it might have taken quite long before they would find Leo, but there was also a very high chance that something went awfully wrong and they _couldn´t_ return.

 _What if they don´t come back?_ That question kept appearing on his mind persistently, and he always pushed it away angrier at himself, that he wasn’t able to trust them more. It was hard to keep the faith when there was absolutely nothing what would support it, but the waiting was the worst. Waiting and not knowing anything.

Jack sighed and glanced to the west, at the sun which was soon about to set, _again_ , and then he headed back inside the cottage. He was already at the stairs to the high veranda, when he heard something. The young Rider froze, turned towards the woods again and listened.

Nothing was heard for a while, just a breeze playing in the treetops. He already thought that he was just imagining things, but then there was a voice again, and another one replying something. Someone´s laugh followed. Jake made sure that there was a rifle ready, leaning over the wall next to the entrance to the cottage, but didn´t pick it up. He hoped, looking in the direction from which the voices were approaching. He hoped, but he was afraid to believe. Until finally, some riders popped out from the woods, and entered the small glade flooded with the last sunlight of that day.

He was never more relieved than when he recognized his leader and his pretty girlfriend riding in the front of the small group. Cullen followed them, with his usual frowning expression, then also smiling Ryo and Koki, who was waving at Jack excitedly, and their line was closed with Leo´s older brother and Kame, who rode behind the small cart with some barrels.

Jack didn´t dare to move until everybody was in his sight, only then he whooped with joy and jumped down from the stairs. Leo dismounted first, though he did it more slowly than usually and helped the smiling brunette down too. Jack dashed towards them and in the spur of the moment; he jumped around Jane´s neck, for the first time ever not wondering what Leo would think about it. His leader just kept smiling though and patted him over the shoulder, once he finally let the brunette go from a firm hug.

The yard got lively with voices, everybody laughing over Jack´s excitement as the youngster went around them, touching them as if he wanted to make sure they were no hallucinations.

“It was horrible to just wait for you! Horrible! How was it? What happened in the city? What about Harvey?!” Jack was almost dancing around them.

“Hey, hey, slow down, kid,” Koki ruffled his hair teasingly.

“One thing after another,” Ryo grabbed Jack´s elbow with a wide and rather calculative smile. “We´re quite tired so what about you take care of the horses?”

“Sure! Sure! No problem!” Jack repaid his grin even more widely and eagerly took two bridles at once.

“Just a second…” Kame stopped his enthusiasm. “What about Nick?”

The important question cooled the happy reunion down for a while, but Jack´s smile didn´t fade away even a bit.

“He´s weak, but alive. He had a fever, but I gave him that tea you told me and it went away quickly,” the happy Rider informed them.

Everybody breathed out in relief over the great news.

“Good, I´ll rather check up on him right away,” Kame decided and handed Ukushi´s bridle over to Jack too. “Be nice,” he patted the mare across her neck, before he rushed inside the cottage as the first.

Koki and Ryo dragged the cart towards the cellar meanwhile, flattering the capable donkey on the way, while Jin with Cullen led the rest of horses behind whistling Jack, and Leo with Jane followed Kame inside, walking hand in hand.

*

 

Jane made sure there was enough wood in the stove to keep the fire alive and then took one of the seized bottles of whiskey and the tray with glasses from the kitchen table. The cottage itself was abandoned and very quiet, the total opposite from the veranda, which resonated with the voices of eight men. Jane stopped between the doors at the sight of the Riders seated around the table, just as one evening before with some of them half-sitting at the railing. The small part of sky visible above the cottage was dark red from the sunset, but the faces of the gathered men were bright under the gold light of the kerosene lamps.

“I was scared shitless – Jane couldn´t keep running for long and I was out of bullets – horrible moment, seriously,” Leo was just in the middle of thrilling narration. Jack literally devoured every leader´s word, while pale Nick listened eagerly as well, covered by the thick blanket. “So, I´m crouching behind that tree, looking for a stone or anything I can use, when I hear _the thundering hooves_. Those bastards are surprised by it and stop in the middle of the road, so I can look out too and… you should have seen him,” Leo pointed at his brother, who was leaning over the railing with the arms crossed on his chest. “Completely in black, not holding the reins _at all_ , riding forward as the cavalry itself. I couldn´t even _recognize_ Jin at first. And when they started shooting I bet they thought he had come right from Hell, because he didn´t even _flinch_!”

Jane noticed that Jin glanced to the side at Kame, who didn´t seem to be so excited about the story. She was not surprised. If the older one really did something like this, he exposed himself to a great risk. But Jin did it for his brother, and if anything, Jane was endlessly grateful for that. While she was lost in her thoughts, Leo moved on in the story…

“Then _that guy_ jumps down from his horse and lands right behind the tree next to me. And he just says: ´Hello there, stupid Bro´,” Leo tried to imitate Jin´s deeper voice, which met with quite an amusement from Ryo and Koki. “And then he starts re-loading his revolvers. Seriously, I felt as if in a dream.”

“I don´t blame you,” Ryo noted. “We´ve seen him only from afar, but he really looked like some Black Rider from Hell. You´re damn good shooter, Jin.”

“And you´ve got a damn good horse too,” Cullen spoke suddenly. “That he didn´t ran wild.”

“That I have,” Jin nodded quite proudly.

“That´s awesome! And what then? What then?” Jack requested the rest of the story excitedly.

He was always so eager and lively, not even the experience in the Cursed Mine could take it away. Jane knew Jack even before the Riders appeared on the farm of her uncle. A cheerful boy with a common face and short height, despite the poor family conditions he came out from, more than willing to help the others. He was only nineteen, the youngest one of them, and lacked experiences and composure, but Leo came to like him a lot.

Koki took up where Leo stopped and started to describe the rest of the clash fiercely. His blonde hair was already almost half-brown again, as it kept growing quickly. He was reckless and hot headed, but loyal and with the endless sources of jokes, even though some very pretty dirty ones…

Ryo completed Koki´s narration from time to time, mockingly reminding him not to take all the fame for himself. Those two were great buddies, a little paradoxically. Ryo was much more serious and composed, but his cheerful side came out a lot when Koki was around. And he also treasured the friendship with Leo more than anything, Jane knew that.

Cullen was listening to the younger Riders with a barely suppressed smile; it was obviously difficult for him not to let himself to be infected with their cheerfulness. Cullen had an irreplaceable place in the gang. The most experienced, always seemed to know what to do when the others were helpless, always supported Leo, selflessly, never bitter about his position. Jane admired the man a lot. He was also grumpy, moody and suspicious, but he´d have never given up on Riders; they were his life and he cared for them no matter how harshly he treated the others from time to time.

Nick was the second oldest after Cullen, near thirty. He always kept his light brown hair short, but now it was longer than usually. He didn´t talk much, but he was there for them when it was necessary. His always deeply tanned skin was also quite pale, and Kame ordered him a strict diet as a part of his convalescence, but he seemed to be totally satisfied at the moment.

And then there were Leo´s brother and mysterious Kame…

Jin was… almost exactly how Jane imagined her lover´s brother would be. They were different and yet very similar. Jin was a loving and caring older brother. When it came to Leo, he didn´t care about anything including himself. He came searching for him to Colorado, he did everything necessary to help him, even though he probably didn´t like Leo´s position as the Riders´ leader much.

Jane somehow felt that the older one was trying to make up for the past a little, but that was only her assumption based on what she had heard from Leo. Jin had an open heart, great confidence in own skills and was always determined to achieve his goals. According to what she had witnessed so far, Leo couldn´t have a better sibling.

But the older Akanishi was also moody, hot-blooded and offensive. Knowing both of the ´newcomers´ better now, Jane was quite surprised that Kame was able to deal with him so well. More precisely taken – the younger guy was the _only_ one who could manage Jin´s mood slips.

Kazuya Kamenashi was a mystery to her. At the first sight, she underestimated him; she let herself be deceived by his appearance and polite attitude. But he kept surprising her all that time. Not only that Kame was a good hunter, rider and tracer. He had incredible knowledge about medical stuff, Indians and even cooking. He was almost always composed, not being shaken or distracted easily and basically he got on well with everyone. Koki literally adored him, Ryo enjoyed his company as well and except Cullen, who only started to trust those two, everybody else got friendly with him quickly.

Kame was strong, maybe not so much physically but definitely mentally. That was the impression she had of him. Jane couldn´t understand fully, just how someone like him could grow up in this wild bloody world of the Wild West.

And of course, on the top of it, there was that secret which she expected the least of all. Even though both Jin and Kame fitted among the Riders well, they were somewhat individualistic… As if they existed for each other. Even if she didn´t know about the… special form of their relationship, there was this romantic feeling about them. It felt like they would jump into the fire for the sake of the other. It was adorable and Jane was honestly surprised that nobody else noticed it yet. On the other hand – she was the only woman around, more sensitive to some things and paid them a bigger attention now. The others, all gunslingers forged in shootouts and furious pursuits, probably would not even imagine something like that to be happening between the two.

It was a rather interesting company, gathered there in the middle of woods, connected by blood, friendship and love. They had to face a cruel loss and Jane missed those who could not be there anymore, dearly. But it could have been much worse... How little was missed and they would not have been able to sit here together like this. She would have never seen Leo´s smiling face again… She would have never heard them laughing together as now. They were so lucky… But that didn´t have to be the case the next time… And she wasn´t as foolish as to believe that similar situations would not happen again.

She didn´t realize the sudden silence, until Leo´s voice reached her.

“Jane… Come to sit among us…” he invited her softly.

Everybody was looking at her now. She didn´t understand their facial expressions, until she realized there were two wet lines all over her cheeks and her eyes felt stingy. Damn… She didn´t cry all that time and now, when they were safe, she would start?

Before she could move, two figures approached her promptly. While Ryo took the tray and bottle from her hands, Jin led her for an arm to the table gently, to make her sit beside his younger brother.

Jane took a shaky breath: “I´m… sorry…” she almost whispered, overwhelmed by emotions, she couldn´t even name.

“It´s all right to cry sometimes,” Jin assured her, before he returned to his spot at the railing, next to Kame.

Leo placed a clean handkerchief into Jane´s hands and hugged her around the waist, while Ryo poured the drinks instead of her. But the whiskey remained untouched on the table for quite a while, as the group just sat there in silence. It was not Jane´s fault - it wasn´t easy to forget all the bad things which had happened, even though they tried. The brunette blew her nose and curled up in Leo´s arms. Cullen kept smoking, otherwise nobody moved.

“So... The others…” Jack dared to break the silence in the end. “They´re all…?”

“Yeah, kid, they are,” Cullen was the one confirming the horrible fact. “They buried them properly and all, at least.”

“But those fuckers smell to the flowers from under as well,” Koki added darkly. “Except Harvey, as we´ve told you.”

“That´s… good,” Nick spoke quietly. “Duggan was the one who… stabbed me. Thanks, guys.”

“For nothing, really,” Cullen reacted. “That asshole asked for it.”

“So… It´s only seven of us now, including Jane…” Jack noted sadly.

“That´s quite a sad statistics, since we had started with fifteen members…” Ryo reacted gloomily.

“No,” Leo denied their statements firmly. “There´s _nine_ of us.”

The Rides looked at him first, before their eyes focused on Jin and Kame.

“Aren´t we, guys?” Leo added, giving them a serious, deep look.

Both of them repaid his stare for a while, before they looked at each other. They exchanged no words, just their eyes communicated in a meaningful, but silent way. Then Jin threw an arm around the younger´s shoulders and turned towards his brother again: “You can bet, Bro. Nobody can improve your chances better than us,” he grinned, making also Ryo, Koki and Jack start smiling again.

“That I call confidence,” Ryo appreciated.

Koki couldn´t help but oppose the statement: “I´d rather say swagger.”

“It seems to me you´ve got the most experience in that,” Jin reacted with a dangerous smile.

Koki made a face on him, while Leo laughed: “True enough.”

“We´re in, but only in case that Cullen agrees as well,” surprisingly, Kame spoke in a serious voice, looking at the oldest man, while he tried to ignore the warmness of a heavy arm around him. “You trusts us the least, don´t you?”

Everybody fell silent, while Esler looked up to the young man obviously surprised, before he smirked: “Well, let´s say that´s a history already, _Kame_.”

The younger one was more than satisfied with such a response, but the older one just had to mock the oldest Rider.

“We´ve proved ourselves to be reliable enough for you?” Jin asked smirking.

“He did,” Cullen gestured towards Kame in no less teasing way. “ _You_ still have a lot of catching up to do, kiddo.”

Jin looked as if he bit into a lemon, but grinning Leo cut in the exchange of opinions quickly, before his older brother could react: “Great, since we´ve agreed so nicely… Ryo, be so kind and give those drinks away finally, before we die of thirst.”

A cheerful toast was so loud that it startled a young elk, which strayed too close to the cottage and made him rush away, quite far and far from those scary sounds. Which was good for the animal, otherwise it would have surely joined its relative stored in the cellar under the current home of the Black Riders.


	30. On my mind

**T** he air smelled of fresh leaves, growing grass, spring flowers and of His current Companions, whom He had already learnt to recognize one from another. Some were friendlier than the others, but all of them respected Him. White, the bravest female He had ever seen, was in the same Fence with them. Which was good, as it seemed they were going to stay at this place for some time.

Companions were glad about the rest and they just walked within Fence lazily, picking the best blades of grass to chew on. But He was already restless. He gathered his strength back quickly, and Fence was too small and too boring to stay in for so long, even though He liked to be in White´s presence.

Another fragrance, only a little familiar, joined the morning mixture, touched his sensitive smell and made Him observe Humans nearby House curiously. His Master was there, doing that funny thing to his face again, making it all white and then ridiculously bare. He didn´t understand the meaning of that act; Master had to be cold without any fur on his face.

There were also other two Humans, Master´s Friends. One of them probably ate something very hot, as a thin smoke was coming out of his mouth and the other one was even funnier than Master. That Human was doing something weird with his head, making it all yellow, like some flower.

He approached closer, as far as Fence allowed him and laughed to let them know what He thought about such activities.

“You find it funny, Kuro?” a well-known voice spoke.

He didn´t understand the words, except His Name. He knew about the other Human approaching Fence; He could see him along with House and other Humans at the same time, despite paying attention to something else. He was proud of His sight, as He had already found out it was much better than Humans´ little eyes.

It was Master´s Mate, who leant over Fence from the other side, talking to Him. “You already had your _hygiene_ and we need it as well.”

He snorted; amused about that Mate was trying to explain those stupid things to Him. Right after that He was flooded with that so sweet scent, which He had noticed a few days ago. White came to Fence too, stretching Her fine head towards Her Master.

“Would you like some free racing, dear?” Mate asked something, which made White nod.

He observed curiously how Mate jumped over Fence and led White away from the other Companions to the opposite side of it. It surprised Him when that moving part was opened for White. He trotted closer, looking at those two questioningly.

“Are you going for a ride?”

It was His Master, who raised a question. Obviously, he was finally done with those crazy things concerning his face and came to check on them.

“No,” Mate shook his head negatively. “I´m just letting Ukushi have some healthy exercise.”

Both He and Master observed in surprise, when Mate let White go outside Fence freely, without any reins. She leapt a little, and made a circle around Her Master happily. That amused Him again; White was three years old already, but at that moment, She acted as a foal.

“You want too?” Master asked, baring his teeth at Him.

He snorted in disbelief. Did Master mean what it seemed he did?

“Kame, let Kuro go as well,” Master waved at his Mate and He stared as Fence opened in front of Him too. White didn´t even run off yet; She just stood nearby, swinging Her long tale, looking at Him defiantly.

Carefully and hesitantly, half-expecting that Master was only joking, He stepped out the borders of Fence. White neighed, daring Him to go after Her. He turned towards Master once again, to make sure if it was really all right.

Master and his Mate were both leaning over closed Fence now, exposing their small teeth widely, which was a sufficient assurance for Him. He raised his front legs joyfully and in pure excitement from the sudden freedom, He dashed after White. He was going to enjoy this fully, until their Masters would need them back.

*

When those two started the day with a rather persistent cleaning procedure, Cullen couldn´t help but comment their efforts mockingly. Who needed a shave or even bleached hair in the middle of the wild mountains? He would not be surprised about Leo, who could be doing the same because of Jane, but their young leader didn´t need to use a sharp razor often, just as Jack and Kamenashi, who were so typical hobbledehoys yet. At least Ryo and Nick were normal, and didn´t care about the darkening stubble all over their faces.

Koki countered his jabs with that such an old wolf as him didn´t understand his needs to stick out from the boring crowd. Cullen rather didn´t argue with that crazy dumbass, though it was logical that all of them should rather _blend in_ with the crowd. As for the older Akanishi, he was suspiciously unresponsive, when Cullen wondered aloud, why he bothered with that fuzz on his chin.

 _Well, it seems I should get used to even more foolish ideas than that_ , Cullen realized, when he saw what Kamenashi and Akanishi did after that. Even Koki´s jaw dropped, when the white mare and the black stallion made a few errands around the fence with the rest of their, quite confused, horses, before trotting off up the long meadow behind the cottage, while their masters were watching them leaning over the wooden pillars, smiling like idiots.

“Hey! Hey!” Koki yelled, running towards the fence, completely forgetting his hair was still half-covered with that weirdly stinking foam. “Are you sure that this is a good idea?!” he asked pointing in the direction where the two horses disappeared.

“It´s all right,” Cullen heard Akanishi´s reply, as the youngster spread over the fence, sunbathing calmly.

“They will be back,” Kamenashi assured the half-blonde Rider too.

Koki stared at him, quite speechless for a while.

“Hopefully, also your hair will come back,” the older one noted, looking at Koki´s strangely yellow head.

“Shit! Too long!” the Rider rushed back to the sink he had left behind, scratching the stuff from his hair away hastily.

Cullen finished his cigarette and stood up from the block for wood chopping at the corner of their cottage. At least _he_ could do something useful, since his younger companions obviously had their day of crazy ideas. For example, there were still those catches from the hunting before in the cellar and nobody seemed to care if they rotted or not.

 _But_ , Cullen smiled for himself a little, _it´s good to see those young brats having some fun_.

*

Kame watched the cursing Rider a little worried, but since Koki managed to pour the whole sink over his head, he probably didn´t need any help. He also noticed Cullen leaving his smoking spot with a rather unreadable expression, before he returned his attention to the older one.

Jin was turning a blind eye in front of the sun, obviously more amused than worried. After he made sure that Koki was busy with his hair, Kame couldn´t help but raise his hand to touch that face gently. It was really as smooth as it seemed to be.

The dark orbs peeped from behind the eyelids and Kame smiled, caressing Jin´s jaw: “It´s much better now… You were thorny already.”

“You minded it?” Jin wondered.

“Not in particular, but… I like you like this more,” Kame assumed and retreated from touching him.

“Well, I can still be quite _thorny_ somewhere else…” the older one reminded in a deep voice. “Won´t _that_ bother you?”

“Depends of what kind of _stinging_ are you talking about,” Kame narrowed his eyes.

Jin smiled in a particular way, which revealed in advance that he was about to say something dirty.

“The one which will make you moan my name,” the older one stated very quietly.

Kame didn´t react to that for a while; stiffened under Jin´s burning look and his mind occupied with the meaning of that statement. One would have thought that he could get used to that already, but those sudden perverted remarks always increased the tension from suppressed desires between them. And since they had to deal with that situation for quite long already, it was hard to keep own heartbeat steady every time…

“I don´t think I´d complain about that…” he said finally.

“Good,” Jin gave him a promising smile, which made Kame´s knees tremble.

The loud guffaw interrupted their moment and made them turn towards the cottage again. Both Ryo and Leo were at the back yard, laughing, obviously over Koki who stood there as a frozen statue, looking at himself in the mirror - his washed hair shone like the sun itself.

*

Jane turned away from the window in the upper floor with an amused chuckle. It was heartwarming to witness carefree scenes like those. She really hoped that this casual spending of time would last for longer than for a couple of days.

Still smiling, she observed the result of her efforts to clean up and rearrange the bedrooms. After hearing Koki complaining about the cold barn and hard surface during the whole breakfast, she reconsidered the number of mattresses in the cottage and tried her best, but still – there was not enough space for everyone to fit inside comfortably.

There were only two bedrooms with four beds in total to sleep on upstairs, one of them used by her and Leo. Two more sleeping places, or maybe even three, could be created downstairs in the room with the fireplace, using one spare mattress she found in the small attic, some furs and leathers, but since the room was not so big and filled with furniture, she still considered the barn to be more comfortable place to sleep in.

Naturally, she didn´t want to lose her privacy with Leo, so they would keep the smaller bedroom, while Cullen as the oldest, and Nick with Jack, who were still in recovery, could sleep in the next one.  If Ryo and Koki agreed to occupy the living room, they were missing only two more…

Wondering if there was any way to solve it, Jane closed the window and headed towards the stairway. Well, as for Jin and Kame, they could be satisfied as well if they ended up alone in the barn together... Jane highly doubted they would like to move their stuff into one room with Ryo and Koki, or into the big bedroom of Cullen and the others, even if there was a chance for that. And the nights were not so cold in overall anymore, especially not for… couples, so…

Jane sighed for herself, assuming it would be better to leave the discussion about it up to the guys. Or maybe she could ask those two in advance, it they would be content with the barn…

But first things first; it was the time to start preparations for dinner, because Leo asked her for something special as a reward for rescuing them. And since all the Riders were quite hungry creatures, she planned to make a proper feast, which would take quite a while.

*

Neither of the two newspapers - ´The Rocky Mountain Post´ or ´Daily Denver Gazette´, which the shopping party managed to snatch in Leadville, included anything interesting in particular. There was no mention of his capture or about the fate of Harvey and Sheriff´s gunmen. Leo figured it was too early for that, or they didn´t want to leak any specific information before his imprisonment would be sure.

There was an article about Horace Tabor though - he was about to be nominated into the Senate by his potential predecessor Henry Teller. After scanning the black lines, which were overfilled with the list of ´good deeds´ which the Lieutenant Governor did for Colorado and its population, Leo folded the papers down disgustedly.

Of course that Tabor provided the financial support for many important buildings and establishments, but he didn´t do it for people – he was in it for more money and power. Not to mention that only the chosen ones were able to profit from it. The rest of Denver citizens, immigrants and common workers were just used by those above them. But naturally, the statement of that kind would not be published in any newspapers.

Leo tapped his fingers over Daily Gazette, frowning at the front article about more disorders in the north part of the state caused by Sioux Indians, but not actually seeing it. It would be only more annoying for them if Tabor really won the elections and became Senator.

“Anything special?”

He raised his eyes from the table to Cullen, who just climbed the steps to the veranda, wiping his hands with some dirty towel – he was probably done with their catches.

“Just the usual shit,” the young leader replied gloomily. “Nothing specific about us.”

The older Rider eyed him curiously, before he crossed the spacious porch and sat down opposite of Leo. Then he took a worn-out box from his pocket and lit a cigarette. Leo observed him for a while, but in the end he didn´t resist.

“Mind if I have one?” he asked.

The older Rider raised his eyebrows: “I´d sooner expect your brother begging me for it,” he said, but nevertheless pushed the box across the table to him.

Leo had also noticed that Jin was out of cigarettes already, but since he was probably still insulted by Cullen´s attitude, he didn´t ask for any.

“He´s too proud for that,” he reacted with a short sigh, reaching for one of his rare sins and the matches. He felt Cullen´s look upon himself, but didn´t want to talk yet.

“How comes you´re sitting here?” Cullen asked. “Jane didn´t like your company in the kitchen?”

“Yeah… She almost threw me out,” Leo felt somehow better at the mention of the brunette´s name.

“Ah… You kept eating away from the preparations again?” the older man figured amusedly.

Leo just grinned. Of course he did, his lovely girlfriend´s cooking was irresistible at any time.

Both the young leader and his deputy kept smoking in silence for a few minutes. The sounds of the wood chopping and sawing could be heard from the back of the cottage, as Jack, Koki, Kame and Jin were preparing the pile of firewood for the planned barbecue. Nick and Ryo were holed up in the cellar, continuing the preparations of the meat, while Jane occupied the kitchen, busy with everything else.

All those guys had a special place in Leo´s heart, but from time to time he really enjoyed some true peace… There were not many opportunities like that, without the bunch of loud buddies around. It was so peaceful that it was almost a shame to ponder the unpleasant and difficult stuff…

“If you want to talk, just out with it,” Cullen spoke suddenly. “I know something´s eating you.”

The young Akanishi repaid the serious stare of his older companion. Cullen recognized there was something bothering him, as always.

“Yeah,” he admitted heavily.

“You hesitate, right?” Cullen guessed. “You´re not sure what to do next.”

Leo watched the smoke going up for a while, before he reacted soberly: “I know we all need some rest now. There´s been a lot of… everything lately, so… we should stay here for a week, or two, maybe longer. Even if only to clear our heads… It´d have been stupid to embark on something now. Everybody is… too agitated.”

Cullen nodded slowly, patiently listening to him: “I can only agree to that.”

“But then… What about then? Should we continue? Should we stop?” Leo inhaled some deadly smoke again.

“You think Tabor is too big a trouble to deal with for us?” Cullen asked, quietly and calmly.

It didn´t take long before Leo nodded: “Yes,” it was depressing to admit it, but relieving at the same time. “From our position, we cannot do much against him anymore…”

“So you want to give up?” the older man asked a little harshly.

“No,” Leo reacted fiercely. “I don´t. It´s not like I´m scared, but… I don´t want to lose any more friends either.”

“None of us want that, Leo,” Cullen reacted in a very serious tone. “But we all chose this life knowing what´s packed up in the deal.”

“Sure, but by ´ _this life´_ anyone would imagine the outlaws, who care only about themselves and own profit. But we´re trying to _help_ the others, to do something good,” Leo needed Cullen to understand what he felt. He pondered their situation alone long enough. “And we have no reward for that, not counting the one on our heads... Originally, we just wanted to pay back to Tabor for what he did in Wyoming, but now… It´s like being at war with him - the war, which we cannot win.”

Cullen frowned a little, thinking out Leo´s words: “So… you want us to be more selfish?”

“Exactly,” he agreed right away, even though he wouldn´t be able to name it a few minutes ago.

“What is on your mind, Leo?” his deputy asked, obviously very curious about what was going through their young leader´s head now.

“I want to talk about it with everyone, tonight, after dinner.”

“You´ve already decided then,” Cullen sighed, hearing the decisive tone.

Somehow, that statement pissed Leo off – what Cullen thought he was? A dictator? He never meant to force anyone to do what he wanted.

“No,” he reacted coldly. “I may be your leader, but I _don´t know what´s right_ to do now. I won´t decide for the others. I want everyone to consider our options and speak their opinion. _We_ will do it together. Not _I_.”

The older man repaid his upset look unwaveringly, and then he smiled: “Good to see you´re not as uncertain as I thought.”

Only then Leo realized how much that short talk helped him to sort out his thoughts. Somewhat relieved, he put away the rest of the cigarette.

“Thanks, Cullen,” he murmured without thinking.

“Not really,” his satisfied deputy shook his head.

Suddenly, some loud voices were heard, which dragged their attention – the fuss was coming from the direction of the horses´ fence. They both stood up and approached the edge of veranda to see what was going on.

And Leo couldn´t help but start laughing loudly at that view – it was definitely something what pulled his mood even higher.

*

Under the different circumstances, Koki would have insisted that there was no one better at making jokes than himself. But in this case, he really didn´t mind that somebody else stole the spotlight of the most humorous personality around.

Both the white mare and the black stallion really returned from the little free ride as their masters said, though only in the late afternoon. The funny thing was that after a warm welcome with Kame, the mare entered the fence calmly and even received some brown sugar for it, but Akanishi´s horse was not so willing to go back to the limitations of his space.

When Leo´s brother approached the stallion to lead him there, Kuro jumped back away from him. Akanishi just laughed at that and went for him again, but even though the animal stood still until the last second, it retreated quickly, once its master was within the reach. After the third attempt, there was no trace of smile upon the young gunslinger´s face. On the other hand, he, Jack and Kame were choking on a shared laughter.

The wordless ´fight´ turned into Akanishi chasing after the black stallion furiously, threatening the animal with hunger, while Kuro was graciously trotting there and back again, throwing his glossy mane and showing his teeth in something, about what Koki would swear was a smile. And when the stallion danced around his master and pushed the hat off his head cunningly, Koki had to grab Kame by the shoulder to keep himself standing.

That finally pissed Akanishi enough to screw the game of tag. He gave the laughing group a quite deadly glance and obviously offended left the field of battle. When the horse noticed his master was leaving, he watched him, waiting if he would come back. But Akanishi continued towards the barn without glancing over his shoulder.

Kuro snorted softly and then ran after him. When he dashed right into his master´s way, Jin stared at him for a while, before he just walked around the animal. Now it was a reverse game, when Kuro was chasing after his master.

At that time also Leo, Cullen and Jane observed the scene from the veranda, obviously quite amused as well. Kuro was persistent, but his master was even more stubborn and so he kept avoiding the horse. Koki had never seen a better comedy.

A short neigh interrupted the group at the fence and Kame turned to his mare with a mysterious smile. Then he let her go out from the fence again.

The mare trotted across the space towards the cottage, where the fight continued and suddenly blocked Akanishi from the other side. Now there were two animals standing in his way and Koki was close to wet himself with laughter.

*

Nobody moved for a while and then both Kuro and Ukushi started to push surprised Jin towards the fence. Now quite amazed, everyone stared at the animals using their big heads to force him to retreat step by step, until he was almost back where he started. Then Kuro nudged him so hard that Jin would have fallen, if there was not Kame right behind him, who helped the older one to retain his balance.

With his jaw dropped, Jin observed Kuro following Ukushi back inside the fence graciously, not even realizing that smiling Kame was holding him firmly for both arms. The black stallion was unpredictable sometimes, but he had never made such jokes on him as in the recent weeks.

“Are you all right?” the soft voice spoke into Jin´s ear, making him even more startled.

He turned to look into the amused brown eyes, realizing Kazuya´s closeness and forgetting his anger at the disobedient animal right away.

“Yeah… Just… He really managed to shock me this time,” he murmured, stepping away from the younger one sooner than he would lose his self-control.

That warm presence was simply too distracting for him on that day… It felt like as soon as there was nothing serious to deal with, Kazuya was the only one taking the space on his mind.

Both the stallion and the mare were back among the other horses, grazing on the grass, both pretending to be the innocence itself. Incredible…

“Well-trained, Jin,” Ryo, who just came out of the cellar soon enough to see the finale and closed the opening behind both animals, patted Jin on the shoulder overly praising, while Koki was still choking, as well as Jack. “Really well.”

Jin´s look would make any small kid run away screaming, but his Riders-buddies just kept smirking. And Kuro, wanting to make a final dot behind their performance, gave out a cheerful neigh.

*

Their dinner that evening was in one word amazing. It definitely made up for the missing lunch, since Jane didn´t let anyone enter the kitchen for half a day. Well, no one except Kame, whose offer for help was the only one accepted by the stubborn brunette. Jin wasn´t kicked off right away as well only because he brought some beer for the two cooks. But the reward for everyone´s waiting was more than sufficient.

Jack and Ryo dragged the table from the living room out to veranda and attached it to the one already occupying the place along with some chairs, so that everyone could sit there comfortably. Of course, that didn´t pass without complaints about the narrow door and kibitzing of their buddies, but in the end they managed to put everything outside.

After that Kame and Jane started to carry the plates and bowls from the kitchen, under the eager eyes of all other Riders standing around with tankards of beer, except Nick, who was standing above the fire, taking the well-done steaks away from the simple grill. Already the raw meat from a young elk in the special marinade, which was prepared by Kame, was tempting enough and once Nick had started to roast it above the hot embers, the Riders tottered around the campfire sniffing like dogs. Both tables were almost not enough for everything what was prepared for their ´special reward dinner´.

The hungry Riders eyed two bowls of roasted potatoes and one of potato mash with fried onions and bacon, a loaf of fresh corn bread, a couple of boiled eggs and even ham cut into thin slices. These main courses were accompanied by full plates of pickled beets, last year carrots and peas. And the peak of the feast – Jane´s pies with stewed fruits and pudding. As the taste of the brunette´s baking was already known to them, Koki almost started drooling at his yet empty plate noticing it.

Once Nick divided his part of the cooking among everyone, they pounced on those meals, which had really irresistible scent, like a pack of wolves. The steaks were juicy and all side dishes completed them perfectly. And as for the pies, everybody agreed with Koki´s statement that they were literally divine. The flatters on all three cooks were heard between the bites nonstop, making them smile contentedly and kind of amusedly.

The Riders enjoyed the deserved feast as no other meal in a long time and with their stomachs full and with tankards of another round of cool liquid in their hands, gathered around the cheerfully beaming campfire, either taking places at the short wooden blocks or at the bench they moved there from the veranda.

*

Ryo still couldn´t get enough of that peaceful atmosphere. In comparison with what they went through so far, it felt almost too good to rest and have fun. Though, for that evening there were also some serious matters hanging in the air, as he could see at their leader´s face. Leo had something on his mind that he wanted to discuss, but he waited with it for after the dinner time. Ryo was not the only one noticing it, also the others were kind of taciturn, excluding Koki of course, who just couldn´t shut up about how greatly he overstuffed himself.

Their leader waited until also Kame and Jack joined them, as they volunteered for washing the dishes, and took their seats – Jack with a relieved sigh next to Jane, who ruffled the youngster´s hair appreciatively and Kame on the log next to Jin, who forced the tankard of beer into his hands, outrunning Koki that way, with a satisfied smirk.

Leo withdrew with his hand from the pleasant place around Jane´s waist to lean forward, closer to the warm light of the fire. He didn´t need to say a single word and everybody focused their eyes on him in silent expectation.

“So, I have a proposal…” Leo started slowly.

“Finally!” Koki exclaimed enthusiastically as if he waited for nothing else. “Jane, you must say ´yes´!”

His leader pierced him with a sharp glance, while the others laughed.

“Not _that_ kind of proposal,” Leo clarified his statement. “Yet,” he added glancing at his girlfriend rather hesitantly, but Jane was just smiling at him.

“That´s such a shame… I wanted to be your best man…” the blonde one complained.

“You just wanted another opportunity to stuff yourself,” Ryo corrected him mockingly.

Another amused laugh cheered the atmosphere up and Leo relaxed too. Ryo smirked at his blonde companion and Koki repaid it back. Their plan to chase that useless tension out of their leader worked out well.

“So… I was thinking… And no, it wasn´t about the wedding,” Leo emphasized noticing Koki taking a breath for another remark. “But about how to make up for our missing funds.”

“And about how to poke Tabor in the eyes at the same time, right?” Ryo noted in a dark tone.

“Yeah, something like that…” their leader admitted. “Our previous informant mentioned once that the Governor doesn´t deposit all his money in the bank, but he keeps most of them in a private safe, along with the property deeds in his office in the Brown Palace Hotel. If that´s still true, we might use it to our advantage.”

Cullen nodded slowly to that: “It would be safer than to try the bank itself. We´ve already checked the one in Denver, remember? It´s too well guarded.”

“Exactly,” Leo reacted. “Not to mention we have never really been into banks much…” the young leader glanced at his brother and his friend, who were watching him with kind of careful expressions.

“But don´t we need a combination to get into a safe like that one?” Kame asked seriously, making Leo feel kind of relieved, though he couldn´t explain why.

“Yes, we do. That´s why we´re going to _meet_ our dear Governor then…”

“And cut a few of his fingers or something?” Koki proposed innocently.

“I´d definitely enjoy that,” Ryo joined him. “His ears would be fine as well…”

“Aren´t you a little sadistic, guys?” Jack frowned.

“He deserves even worse,” Cullen snorted.

“But… We do not… torture people,” the youngest Rider objected, a little alarmed. “It´d be more… proper to just shoot him, right?”

“We can´t do that, kid,” the oldest Rider replied, while both Ryo and Koki frowned discontentedly, but didn´t object anything.

“I´m not saying I don´t want to do just that,” Leo spoke again darkly, gaining the murmurs of agreement from the two ´sadists´. “But he´s the Lieutenant Governor, even a candidate for the Senate membership now – we´d have ended up being hunted by every soldier and Marshal in Colorado. And I don´t want to see any of you on the gallows.”

A short silence made everyone remember those whom they had already lost fighting against that powerful man.

“We´re not going to kill him, but still – we can make quite a lot of troubles for him with that theft,” Leo continued, trying to be more positive.

“And we´ll always be all for that, you can bet,” Ryo stated firmly. “I take any chance with which we can repay to him for… everyone. Even a small one.”

“Me too,” Koki nodded decidedly as well and drank the rest of his beer in one go.

Nick agreed right after him and Cullen didn´t need to say anything, just one look from him was enough. Jack didn´t seem to be so persuaded, but nodded anyway, and Jane was keeping one of her hands on Leo´s thigh lightly, so he didn´t even need to look at her to know, she was on his side in this. He didn´t know what to expect from the two newest members though…

“I´m in, too,” Jin said slowly as the first. “Somebody must watch over you not to do anything foolish again, Bro.”

“You´re the one to talk, Akanishi,” Cullen chipped in caustically, making Koki chuckle and Jin frown. Leo moved his eyes to the last member of the gang, who kept looking into the flames for a while.

“Isn´t provoking Tabor like that almost the same as killing him?” Kame stated in the end, finally repaying Leo´s look. “I don´t know much about that man yet, but if we do this, he´ll send more bounty hunters and soldiers after us all the same.”

“So, you think we should do _nothing_ , Kame?” Ryo bristled, before Leo could respond. “Someone else might have pulled the trigger, but the death of our friends and of our previous leader, that´s his job. We just want some justice.”

“No, you want vengeance,” Kame corrected him in a voice, which brought chills on Leo´s back; when the younger one talked it was always directly to the point. “And I know how it feels like, believe me. But it´s not good to act if you´re blinded with anger or grief.”

“It´s easy for you to say, handsome,” Koki murmured gloomily.

“No, he´s right,” Leo admitted quietly.

“But Leo, we have the right to…!” Ryo burst out fiercely.

“I know,” his leader interrupted him promptly. “None of us want to let Tabor get away from what he had done to us without payback. I know you all feel that way.”

No objection was heard this time; the serious faces around the fire confirmed that statement even without words.

“Kame, you speak wisely,” the Rider´s leader continued, looking directly at very serious Kame. “I´m aware of the risk, which we´re going to face, but neither I nor the others can let this go. It has gone too far for that. I need to know if you´re with us or not.”

Everybody was looking at Kamenashi now and it seemed that Jin almost didn´t breathe until the young man nodded seriously: “Of course I am, Leo. I joined you guys once, and I´m not going to back off from that. I just wanted you to know what I think.”

“And I´m glad you´re honest,” Leo reacted appreciatively. “It has been difficult for all of us recently… So, we will take our time. We´ll get Tabor one way or another, but we aren´t going to do this right _now_. I was thinking that we might spend some time here. Let´s keep a low profile; let´s make Tabor think we´re scared and hiding. And only then we will strike again.”

“When is _then_?” Jack asked for everyone. “When are we going to do this?”

“What do you suggest? I´m listening…” Leo prompted everyone. “Two weeks? Three?”

“Honestly? I feel for a year-long vacation,” Ryo replied, trying to ease the tension from the heavy discussion. “But still – it would be boring to wait for that long. I think three weeks are just fine, maybe a month.”

“The weather will be more stable than, too. It will be more comfortable to travel,” Nick noted in a calm voice.

“That´s right,” Cullen nodded. “I´m for some rest as well.”

Leo looked at Kame again: “Will it be enough for Nick to recover?” he asked.

“You mean for the riding? Yes, even two weeks should be enough,” Kame assumed. “And Jack is already just fine, as far as I can tell.”

The youngest Rider grinned and nodded: “I´m even better than before!” he declared bravely.

“Strange I didn´t notice that,” Jane noted, in pretended astonishment.

“Jaaane…” Jack pouted indignantly.

The stiffed laughter around the fire made Leo feel much better than before the whole conversation started. They were all on the same boat and they were not going to sink so easily…

“Good, I´m definitely going to need your energy later, Jack,” he grinned at the youngster. “All right, a month then, guys. We have time to think this through, to check on the situation in Denver in advance and figure out a plan. Any other objections or questions?” Leo asked in conclusion, eyeing everyone gathered.

“ _I_ have a proposal now,” Koki got up waving with his empty tankard. “Enough of serious talk, Chief. I think I´ve heard a ´vacation´ somewhere in that awful amount of your words, so… Another round?”

On that, Leo´s face brightened up with a wide smile: “I was going to say exactly that.”


	31. Tipsy Loving

**A** fter the third round of beer it showed that some members of the Riders were, among other things, also artistically gifted. First Ryo pulled out a small harmonica from his pocket, cheering everybody up with the playful melody. Quite soon, he was followed by Jin, who set the guitar free from its shelter after quite a long time. Willingly granting the others´ wishes, he played a few of well-known songs, making almost everyone sing. And despite not having the most pleasant vocal, Koki was definitely very eager to demonstrate his singing skills the loudest of all.

Kame felt a strange and yet somehow familiar squeeze in his chest, seeing the instrument in Jin´s hands. Even though the older one didn´t play often, he didn´t seem to be uncertain with it at all.

Back in Montana, there were not many chances to listen to Jin´s playing or singing much, mostly thanks to the treatment the young gunslinger had received from Math Grenet. But even that little of what Kame heard was stuck in his memory. When the strings chimed with the catchy tones now, it brought the younger one back to those rare moments and made him realize just how much things had changed since then.

Kazuya sighed a little, trying to suppress the uneasiness in his heart, while observing his friends singing so enthusiastically that they definitely startled all the wildlife around. Considering Leo´s plans with Tabor, their circumstances would just keep changing and there was no guarantee it would be for the better. It was impossible to guess where the upcoming actions of the gang would lead them. At the moment, Kame couldn´t be sure about anything, not even about their home-coming…

They never talked about it, but it was still somewhere on Kame´s mind - he wanted to go back home once it would be possible. He was not so sure about Jin though… It was more than clear that the older one would do anything to protect his little brother, and since Leo was here in Colorado, there was nothing to drag him back to Montana. Unlike Kame, who often thought of Liwan and the rest of the Blackfeet Tribe and also Brice family…

The haunted newbie-Rider drank up his tankard in almost one go, in the desperate attempt to relax his overworked mind. There was no point in pondering all of it now. There was that Tabor-issue to deal with and only depending on the results they could decide on what to do next. It was too soon to be pessimistic… At least Kame hoped so.

*

After another cheerful session combined with both guitar and harmonica, the most of the gang finally admitted they were too hoarse to continue scaring the animals away and the atmosphere around the campfire changed a bit.

Nick went to sleep even before the last song, Jack barely kept his eyes open, obviously not being able to drink anymore and Cullen was staring into the flames, smoking his umpteenth cigarette. Ryo and Koki gathered the empty tankards and headed to their favorite place of that evening – to the cellar, while Kame took care of the fire, adding the sticks here and there to chase the growing chill of the night away.

Seeing the most mocking part of their group leaving from the sight, Leo got up and walked towards his brother, who kept strumming on his instrument without any real purpose. Leo said something quietly, right into Jin´s ear, before returning to his spot beside Jane.

Jin just sat there for a while, looking thoughtfully, before he altered the guitar´s position a little, closed his eyes and started to play again. Since Kame had noticed before that Jin avoided joining the others with his voice, it was a pleasant surprise when he accompanied the slow and romantic melody also with words this time.

Noticing the loving way with which Leo took Jane into his arms, whispering something to her, Kame realized that the younger brother had asked Jin to sing a love song for the brunette in his place. It was a sweet gesture and it was nice of the older one agreeing to it without any remarks. And it was beautiful, especially with that incredibly emotional color of Jin´s voice...

Something stirred inside Kame listening to that singing. He sat down on the small block on the opposite side of the fireplace slowly, not being able to tear his eyes off the older one, as long as the words kept coming out from his lips…

 

“If tonight I would lose you

I won´t forget because I still love you

Your short kisses under the moonlight

Make my heart ache

Don't forget that feeling

And let me be next to you

The sad emotions hiding in the dark

The days we played around

We´re growing up

Even if there´s a distance between you and me

You taught me that I´m never alone

When you feel sad

I want to be right next to you

So don't forget that I love you

If tonight I would lose you

I won´t forget because I still love you

So don´t forget that I still love you…”

 

It hurt somewhat, listening to the ´declaration of love´ from Jin. Not that Kame would have ever required it from the older one, but suddenly he was painfully aware that he hadn´t heard those words from him yet…

As Kazuya observed the face of his handsome lover, with some kind of sadness in his heart, Jin´s eyes suddenly opened and connected with his. The younger´s heart stopped for a second, before it started running again. Those dark orbs swallowed him and made him forget their surroundings for a while. There was such warmness and affection, that he had to suppress the urge to jump over the fire right away and kiss the older one just for that.

The song ended with Kame still enchanted by the dark eyes; the useless doubts completely forgotten. Who needed words when someone looked at you in such a way?

Jane had tears in her eyes, huddling in her smiling lover´s hug. Even Koki and Ryo, who returned sometimes in the middle of the song, just stood there with the tankards in their hands speechless. Jack was already sleeping, and spread over half of the bench, while Cullen was standing for a change, with his back turned to the campfire and to all of them, looking into the darkness surrounding their sanctuary…

*

Jin interrupted the warm connection with Kazuya, but only for the sake of putting the guitar aside safely. After that, his eyes were inevitably attracted to the sight of the younger one again. Kame was sitting there so quietly, but his eyes were shining with the greater intensity than the fire. Jin smiled, feeling content and somehow excited.

He sang that song on the request for his brother´s girlfriend, but still – while performing it, his thoughts kept swirling around Kame. For that moment, he couldn´t think of any better way to express himself and of what he felt.

After finishing their last beers, Jane and Leo decided they´d like to have some privacy and parted with them saying good nights. Right after that, Koki stood up.

“I´m getting us a bottle, if you don´t mind,” he announced in a tone which allowed no objections and not even waiting for their reaction, the blonde one walked away.

Ryo shook with Jack, persuaded him to get some proper sleep and managed to send him off yawning widely towards the cottage. Kame got up too, to add on the fire again, well-aware of the look Jin was giving to him. He couldn´t resist but to sit down to his original spot next to older one then. Cullen remained standing on the edge of light and darkness, finishing his favorite bad habit, until Koki got back with the bottle of whiskey. Only then the oldest Rider joined them at the fire.

The five of them sat there, drinking, talking about the upcoming move against Tabor a bit, also about Jin´s skills with the guitar and negotiating about who should go hunting again next week. It was a peaceful, friendly conversation, which made them feel at ease.

Only one source of tension remained at the campfire, hanging above the both newest members of the gang. But just the two of them knew about it, their throats squeezing every time their shoulders or knees brushed against each other, as they reached for the bottle to share the gulp of the warming liquid.

Jin was the first one, who couldn´t bear it anymore. He murmured something about drowsiness, though he seemed to be more than lively, grabbed his guitar and left the campfire.

Kame´s eyes followed the older one´s figure, until the night swallowed it. He listened to the quiet conversation of the remaining three Riders for a while, but he was not able to grasp the meaning of it. Feeling a little dizzy, but with his legs still steady, he excused himself only shortly after Jin. But first he had to assure worried Koki that their deal was valid – the two of them would occupy the barn for that week, while Ryo and Koki would change the places with them in the living room the next one…

*

The small, dark orange light revealed Jin´s position to Kame easily, even though the older one could not be seen in the deep shadow of the barn, which not even the thousand stars on the sky above them could beat. He frowned at the faint smell of tobacco disturbing the fresh air and stopped in the safe distance from the smoking gunslinger.

“Did you steal from Cullen´s stash or something?” Kame asked sharply, feeling rather irritated, even though he had no proper reason. “You complained half the way from Leadville that you don´t have _any_ left.”

The older one took his time with the response, inhaling deeply first.

“This _is_ my last one,” he stated slowly and a little hoarsely. “Why do you mind it that much?”

Kame puckered his nose: “I don´t like the odor of it on you,” he replied right away. He was not the type to complain about the little things, but this evening he was in the mood to speak without usual restraints.

“Aah, I see… How much?” the curious question followed.

“How much what?”

The light glowed once again, before being thrown down and dumped into the ground. Then Kame felt the whiff of the tobacco smell getting stronger, as Jin moved and stood so close to him, that the hot breath reached his face, when the older one spoke again.

“Do you dislike it enough to… reject me?” Jin asked whispering. He didn´t touch the younger one yet, and his face was no more than a yellow blur in the dark, but Kame could _feel_ the other´s presence. It was as if the aura of the older one was spreading towards him, surrounding him, taking him into his arms…

Kame had to gulp down to clear his throat and to be able to speak: “You can verify it yourself…”

“Is that a challenge, Kame?” that question had a hint of viciousness hidden in it, that kind which made the younger´s stomach squeeze.

“Only if you want to accept it,” he reacted shakily.

The hand groped in the dark, grabbed Kame´s elbow and then ran up along his arm, until the fingers, hardened by the long play on the strings, ended up on the back of Kame´s neck, caressing his skin there slowly.

“What do you think is on my mind for the whole damn day?”

Jin´s hoarse voice and seductive touch pushed Kame over the edge of his self-control, which was already wavering under the effect of alcohol.

“That we have the barn for ourselves tonight,” he reacted sharply and closed the gap between their lips. He felt Jin smirking into the kiss first, but his reaction changed quickly, when Kame threw both arms around his neck, pushing himself even closer.

Jin´s tongue slipped out, attacking Kame´s lips passionately, while his other hand closed the hug around the younger one. They staggered a little and Jin stepped back to lean against the wall, making Kazuya follow.

Their kiss felt so good Kame didn´t want it to end. But that was only until Jin´s left hand moved down from his waist, ending the journey on one of his buttocks, clenching it playfully. Kame bit Jin´s lower lip in response.

The older one moved away and his heated voice whispered the reaction on the previous statement right into Kame´s ear: “Correct.” Then he stepped away from the wall and with both hands still on the younger one, he pulled him towards the entrance to the barn.

The old hinges creaked a little when they slipped in and Jin kicked the door to close them again. There was even deeper blackness inside the barn, as there was no lantern lit and they could hardly recognize the outlines of the other. But that only made them take a more delicate notice of each other´s touches…

*

Jin´s heart was already beating hard and he couldn´t wait to kiss the younger one again. He managed to do only one thing before that – he reached towards the barn door for the last time and pulled the bolt down. Even though the other two Riders were not supposed to sleep in the barn with them, he was not willing to risk any interruptions.

Then the slim body finally pressed against his, exciting all his senses again. There was the warm skin under his palms, which had already found their way under the clothes; he felt the small fingers buried in his hair, the soft lips searching for his and the wet tongue between them.

Already the whiskey shots made Jin´s head somewhat light, but the effect of Kazuya´s physical closeness affected him much more. He was excitedly hot and dizzy; he heard own blood rumbling in his ears and he felt that familiar tension down in his trousers, which got only stronger when Kazuya pushed his coat away and unbuttoned his shirt impatiently. His hands caressed Jin´s skin from the neck down to chest, and stomach before going up again, touching his nipples on the way.

Jin escaped from the sweet lips for a while and headed for the younger´s ear, pulling the shaky gasp from him. Then he continued to the neck, searching with his tongue for the place where he felt the younger´s blood bumping in the vein. Kazuya shuddered and both his hands slipped down, at Jin´s lower back, the tips of his fingers sliding just under the edge of his trousers.

Jin definitely didn´t intend to proceed in such an innocent way. He let one hand resting on his waist; while with the other, he copied the line of divide of the younger´s bottom still covered by the cloth. A heated exhale came out of Kame´s lips and his nails buried into Jin´s skin when the older one pushed his forefinger against the gap.

Kazuya connected their lips again, his whole body literally asking for more. But Jin left the alluring spot and focused on the upper part of the younger´s body instead. First, he took his face between both palms, firmly keeping the younger one in place, while he took control over their kiss, claiming the younger´s hot tavern as his. Then he lowered his hands to find those tiny nipples under Kame´s shirt, pinching them gently, while still petting Kame´s lips.

It was damn rousing to make the younger one shiver with the slow treatment. Jin wanted to continue that way, but once Kazuya brushed against his crotch rather harshly, and squeezed his ass with both hands hungrily, Jin just couldn´t resist the growing passion anymore.

He tore off Kame and looked around, now seeing some clearer lines in the barn around them, trying to remember if there was any place to… There, he remembered there was a big wooden barrel for water in the corner.

Holding the shaking body of the younger one in his arms safely, he pushed Kame back towards the darkest corner. Kazuya let him lead their way; trusting Jin completely. Only hastily, he checked if the barrel was closed with the cover, while he already felt Kame´s fingers wandering all over his chest again. Right after that Jin eagerly responded to the seductive behavior and almost tore the trousers off the younger one, pulling them down across that round ass.

Jin couldn´t think straight anymore, when Kame reached down to help him get his own clothes away. He made Kazuya sit at the barrel a little roughly and found his mouth in the darkness again, while Kame´s hand closed around his impatient member down there.

*

Only faintly, an inner voice in Kame´s head mentioned that maybe he had drunk a little over the edge, as he obviously just threw any reason out of the window. But who would care when there was a damn attractive man undressing him and stealing the breath from his lips?

Kame wanted Jin to take him, he needed to feel him again, that desire was stronger than anything and touching Jin´s pride flooded him with such a hotness, he almost choked on it.

They were drunk not only with the whiskey, but also with desire after each other. They would not have been able to slow down even though they would want to. Once again, their passion was suppressed for too long already.

It wasn´t exactly a comfortable position, sitting at the harsh surface of the wood, but at the moment Kame couldn´t care less. Not when Jin was touching him, fondling his sensitive skin at the lower back, or licking his earlobe. Suddenly, all his worried thoughts about their situation, the Riders, Tabor, Liwan and home were gone. There was just that young gunslinger, whom he wanted. It felt so damn liberating to turn his brain off, even just for a while.

Kame strengthened his grip around the hot, hard flesh, making Jin and at the same time himself more and more aroused. The older one kissed him on his neck and even bit a little, when Kame moved with his hand, while he felt Jin´s fingers burying into his thighs.

Kazuya got lost somewhere between the hot exhales and even hotter touches and passionate kisses and noticed that Jin pushed his teasing hand away only when the tip of that incredibly hot flesh poked near his sacred hole. It made him shiver and shift himself closer to it, requesting for more.

Jin grunted something inaudible and pushed him further away, his hands teasingly slowly going up his thighs and then down again without even touching Kame´s member, which was already hard too. Kame squeezed Jin´s hair with both hands and raised his legs to lock the older one´s between them and not letting him go.

Catching his own breath, Jin stiffened for a brief moment. He felt that narrow tempting hole in front of his eager pride again and couldn´t think of any more foreplay, when the younger one moved against him, brushing the hot skin against even hotter one.

He grabbed one of the Kame´s legs, which was circled around him in that damn seductive way and raised it a little higher. Keeping the slim body shivering in expectation more steady for the waist with the other one, Jin plunged forward, only very slowly, getting inside that hot space bit by bit, waiting for Kazuya to relax, to accustom to him again.

With his eyes closed, breathing heavily, Kazuya was just a shaking pile when Jin pushed fully inside finally and remained still. His own breath squeezed in his lungs, as he desperately kept his passion under some control, and he waited, with that feeling he´s in the sweetest prison ever, until Kazuya whimpered against his shoulder. And when his inners squeezed around Jin´s cock, there was no need to even think about being slow anymore.

They both gasped for breath into the rhythm, as Jin kept pouncing inside Kame in the fast pace, which was carrying them up to those lovely heights…

*

Covered in sweat, they were hugging each other in the dark. Shakily, Jin moved away from the narrow shoulder, where he let his head resting, to Kame´s face and found his lips. It felt as if the electricity was running between them still.

“Damn…” he whispered hoarsely, feeling even dizzier than before. “How comes that… every time… it´s so…” he mumbled incoherently.

“Intense?” the younger one completed him quietly.

“Yeah…”

“Maybe…. It´s because…” Kame hesitated.

“Just say it,” Jin requested, pulling the slim form closer, as he didn´t want to leave that hot spot inside yet.

Kame shivered and hugged him around his neck more firmly.

“There´s not so many… opportunities for… us to…. Do this.”

“Nah… You do _not_ think you have any chance of starting to bore me, do you?”

A sweet smile shone in the dark: “How could I… in this position? I just mean that… we would be able to behave more… calmly, if we were alone… all the time.”

“I got your point but still…” Jin captured his lips suddenly and gave him a short and messy kiss. “I hardly doubt that what I feel when… I´m with you would get any… weaker. I just don´t know… how to put this... properly. I…”

“Ssh…” Kame interrupted him lovingly. “Stop talking and kiss me again, Jin.”

*

Everything was so quiet, peaceful and relaxed, when they lied up in the attic, on the soft pile of hay, covered with blankets, in each other´s arms.

“Jin…?” Kame´s voice was sleepy, but happy.

“Yes, Kazu?” the older one didn´t sound more lively, but awfully satisfied.

“Can I have a request?”

“Anything for you,” the older one promised.

“Let me sleep during the night…” the younger one asked pleadingly.

A chuckle was heard as a reply.

“Jin, please…”

“I cannot guarantee that…” the husky voice murmured.

“Come on… I´m gonna have troubles walking as it is…”

There was a short pause.

“Was I so…” there was no trace of amusement in Jin´ voice now.

“No, no…” Kazuya assured him. “You were… damn hot.”

“Good…” the murmur was accompanied with the blanket shifting, as the older one´s hand caressed the younger´s skin under it.

“It´s just that… I need some…” Kame was uncertain about how to explain himself, but fortunately Jin did it instead.

“Relax, I get it. Now sleeping and resting. More fucking tomorrow. Good night then.”

Kame had no reply on that; he just gaped at the older one, who hugged him more firmly, smiling satisfied.

“You´ve become surprisingly blunt…”

“Complaints also tomorrow, Kazuya.”

***

 

Jane pushed the door tentatively, half-expecting it wouldn´t open. But it did, so she could enter the space drowning in gloom and filled with the smell of hay. Not trying to muffle her steps, she crossed the wooden floor to get under the ladder. She cleared her throat and looked up to the edge of the upper part of the barn.

“Hello there, you two!” she called rather loudly. “Don´t you think it´s about time to get up?!”

Some rustle was heard from above, a few boards crackled as somebody moved and then a face of the younger of those two appeared, as he glanced down at her. Kame didn´t seem to be sleepy, but his hair was ruffled in all directions and Jane spotted some straws of hay in it.

“Hi, Handsome,” she greeted him. “Are you two awake yet?”

“Jane… Yeah, sure, we´re,” the youngster confirmed in a little hesitant tone and he eyed the stripes of sunlight penetrating the barn through the gaps between the wooden walls. “What time is it?” he asked in that same tone.

“Almost noon,” she informed him, rather amused. “I thought you might welcome some lunch at least.”

“Damn,” Kame sighed. “I´m sorry, we didn´t realize…” he fell silent in the mid-sentence sheepishly.

“Don´t worry about it; Leo and myself didn´t get up exactly early either,” Jane reacted with a wide smile she couldn´t suppress.

“Aah, is that… so…” the young Rider stopped talking again. She could almost see the question marks above his head, as the possible meaning of her words got to him. Jane had to bite her lip not to start laughing aloud. Kame´s stunned expression was simply too cute.

“It´s just that our Goldilocks had some stupid ideas about buckets of water again, so I thought it will be better if I wake you up before that,” she explained, shrugging.

“That bastard…” the muffled voice of the older one was heard somewhere behind Kame. “Tell him I´ll drown him in that bucket if he gets close to me with any.”

“I´m sure he´ll take it as a challenge,” the brunette grinned.

“Thanks, Jane,” Kame seemed to collect himself finally. “We´ll be there right away.”

“You´re welcome. And as I said, it´s just fine, we have a _vacation_ , right? So take your time,” Jane couldn´t help but wink at him conspiratorially and secretly choking with laugher she walked away. She didn´t need to look back to know about the confused look Kame was giving her all the way towards the exit. There was probably quite confusion in the youngster´s head now…

*

Kame stared at the barn door even after it was closed and they were left alone again. What was that? Could it be that Jane suspected something? What if she somehow found out about them? Why else would she come for them like this and why would she offer them the barn as the first the day before?

No, that was nonsense… The brunette still behaved the same towards them, Kame was pretty sure that if she _knew_ , he would have recognized it. Those were just some usual remarks, Jane didn´t have to indicate anything specific with them. Not necessarily…

Anyway, it was good that he remembered to raise the bolt up again, before they went to sleep.

“Come back here,” a plea was heard from the pile of blankets on the hay.

Kame turned away from the edge and on his four he returned to the place, where they settled for the night, to find the rest of his clothes, as he had only pants at the moment.

“Forget it,” he scolded his lover, who was half-covered with the blanket, half-more-than-obviously naked, while he pushed his hands through the sleeves of the black shirt. “Didn´t you hear? We spent half a day here, wallowing. Do you want us to be even more suspicious?”

“Kazu~…”

Kame focused on keeping the frowning expression, when he looked at the still-lying man. The muscles on Jin´s chest and arms had a fine lining in the yellow light, his long hair traced the neck in a very attractive way and his eyes were so dark, when the older one patted the spot beside him.

“They don´t care…” Jin stated in a husky voice. “Just for one more minute…”

Kame knew very well, how much time ´one minute´ could actually mean with Jin in this mood. So, he crept closer only carefully and leant down to place a soft peck on the full lips. They were so hot that he retreated even faster than he intended.

“Come on, Jin... We cannot spend here the whole day.”

But he underestimated the older one´s sleepy state. Before he could get far enough, Jin threw the blankets away, grabbed his arms and tumbled him back to the hay. That handsome face with deep orbs was above him now, the warm legs and hands pinching him down. And Kame didn´t remember when was the last time he felt so happy.

“What about one kiss then?” the older one asked willfully.

“I might agree to that,” he admitted playfully.

 

**_A/N: The song used in this chapter is a self-altered version of English translation of Kamenashi Kazuya´s solo “Aishiteru Kara”. All the credits belong to Johnny & Associates and to the Hyphen-translator, whoever that was – gomen nasai, I cannot remember where I found it anymore._ **


	32. Secrecy

**W** ith the rumble of massive wheels, just another hackney coach arrived in front of the Clarendon Hotel on Harrison Avenue of always lively Leadville. The cabman stopped it right at the main entrance and rushed down from the trestle to open the small door for an elderly couple in expensive traveling clothes. A young porter didn´t hurry so much, as he left his spot in the pleasant shadow at the door of the hotel lazily, eyeing the pile of suitcases on the roof of the carriage with a quite annoyed expression.

The harnessed stallions were snorting tiredly, while other horses stomped around them, carrying their riders closer to the city center. The old lady kept complaining loudly about the horrible journey from Denver, an errand-boy was obtruding the newest issue of local newspapers to each and every passerby on the opposite side of the street, a woman´s yell could be heard from the nearby saloon, some repairs were going in the Opera House building and unloading of new goods in front of Sandelowsky´s Store completed the whole cacophony.

Even though the window of a certain spacious hotel room on the second floor was properly closed, all these sounds came through inside, making the beautiful young woman frown discontentedly. Elizabeth McCourt, also known as Baby Doe, rolled on her side and ran an open palm over the chest of the man lying next to her with his hands clasped behind his head.

“When can I move to Denver, my love?” she asked moodily, playing with the half-dark, half-grey hair around her lover´s nipples.

“What are you lacking here?” the resting man asked a little tiredly, not even opening his eyes.

“You,” Baby pouted. “Most of all. And it´s so _noisy_ all the time…”

The Lieutenant Governor looked at her now: “Wear some ear plugs then, dear,” he recommended.

“Oh, darling, you cannot leave me here forever,” the blonde continued pleading, while her hand slipped down, to the edge of the blanket and what was covered under it.

“And I won´t,” Horace grunted, watching the woman´s face closely. “But I need Augusta to agree to the divorce first.”

Baby sat up fiercely, all her yellow curls falling down on the rounded shoulders with the movement, their tips even reaching her full breasts.

“You just keep saying that!” the blonde one burst out. “Make her agree! Give her more money and be done with your annoying wife!”

“We´ve been together for twenty-five years. Not every parting is as easy as yours was, Elizabeth,” Baby´s two-time-older lover informed her rather coldly.

Baby gasped and her eyes glittered with tears. She threw the blanket from her legs away and stood up from the sweaty bed sheets. Naked in the whole glory of her body´s shapes, she tapped to the window, and looked out with her full lips twitched.

Horace sighed, noticing the blonde´s expression, which indicated the near-crying state. He didn´t mean to upset her… He came to Leadville to rest, not to evoke more issues.

From time to time, the Lieutenant Governor had enough of dealing with the complaints of mines´ foremen and with the bankers´ lectures about investments. Not to mention an unsuccessful search after that five-time-damned bounty hunter. Even though Sheriff Trent managed to find the bodies of his men in the woods, Ralph Harvey was not among them; just that hot-blooded Duggan. So, he had no idea what the hell went wrong with Akanishi´s capture, whether his gang set him free or Harvey broke the contract. Augusta´s opposition to the suggested divorce was just another item on his list of difficulties, and now he could add his upset lover to it. Nothing seemed to work out well recently.

He straightened up on the bed and put on the best of his nice expressions: “Baby…”

“I´m fed up of waiting for you…” she interrupted him, her breasts going up and down with heavy breaths.

Horace suppressed an annoyed reaction. His head tingled from all those repeated complaints, but it made him feel pleased at the same time. His cute Baby couldn´t bear it without him around.

Carefully, as his back ached a little again, he stood up and crossed the room. When he locked his arms around the blonde´s warm body, she stiffened, but didn´t back off.

“Well, you don´t have to wait for me _now_ ,” he murmured against the skin on her neck, inhaling the sweet scent. Baby squealed when he slipped lower with one hand and found the warm soft spot between her legs. “I don´t want to discuss Augusta right now. Come back to bed.”

“Horace… Do you even need me?” the blonde requested assurances from him, fidgeting under his greedy touch. “You´re so… eager now, but sometimes… It´s like you don´t miss me at all…”

“Of course I do,” he pressed against her buttocks hungrily. “Just be patient. I will marry you, Elizabeth, you have my word. Nobody will ever… have… more… beautiful… wife.”

“All right…” Baby sighed under the kisses with which Horace tracked the line of her neck and shoulder. “I´ll be waiting for you then… Later...”

***

 

It was two weeks of hunting, fishing, riding through the woods, evening drinking, Jane´s cooking and fun. The spring reached its warmer half, with the weather getting nicer, both Jack and Nick recovered from their wounds completely, and the whole gang had more than enough rest, which they all needed so much.

There was only one matter, which spoiled the mood a little. Well, it spoiled Jin´s mood most of all… Right after the first private night, they had to solve the sleeping arrangement again, because suddenly the cottage was too hot for Koki to sleep in. The blonde youngster wanted to return to the barn, while Ryo insisted on staying inside. Which meant Jin and Kame could either stay with the annoying Rider, or one of them would move into the living room. Since none of them was willing to leave the other in Koki´s company alone, though from different unspoken reasons, the three of them got stuck in the barn together. And from time to time, they were even joined by Jack, who used to run from the bedroom because of Cullen´s unbearable snoring.

As expected consequence, Jin kept walking around with the dark clouds almost visible above his head, until Kame managed to take him aside and very convincingly assured him they could find some different place and time to be alone. But naturally, it was a difficult task with other seven people around.

Otherwise, all of them had a great time. Unfortunately, it was too good to last forever…

 

It was Nick, who offered to ride to Denver in advance and check on the current situation with Tabor, before they would move on. But he returned a way too soon, bringing not very positive news. Apart from the information that Tabor was temporarily accommodated in his mansion in Leadville, based on which they would have to alter their plans; there was also the newspapers full of dark headlines. And that meant the end of their peaceful vacation.

Except Jin and Kame, who hadn´t come back from their fishing yet, Leo called everyone else to the veranda, as soon as Nick tied the horse to the pillar. And now they all sat there, horribly silent, looking at the sole woman in their gang with pity and worries.

*

Jane stared at the depressing list of recent victims with guilt eating her up, despite knowing that hardly anything would have changed, even if she had stayed home back then. They could fight against the adverse weather, tough living conditions or greedy Governors, but there was no way to beat the deadly illness. There was not much the doctors could do against influenza in those days.

It was not her fault, but she still felt guilty for not being there for her family. The names of her grandmother and her younger sister were on that list… Jane did her best to suppress the tears, which threatened to push their way out. She had to close her eyes for a while, but it didn´t chase that article away. Sixteen days of peace they had, before another strike came down falling upon them again.

“Jane?” the warm, firm fingers soothed her hand gently. “I´m really sorry…”

The brunette took a deep breath. She was glad that Leo was there, on her side, but at the moment, she needed to be alone. She didn´t want them to see her like that.

Jane pushed the newspapers away, as if it was poisoned and got up, avoiding looking at anyone: “I´ll be fine… I just… I need a minute…” she couldn´t prevent her voice from shaking, feeling the worried look of her lover.

*

Leo wanted to go to the brunette, who disappeared inside the cottage hastily, but surprisingly Jack overtook him, with one hand on the leader´s elbow, the other on the newspapers.

“I´ll go…” the youngest Rider stated, looking unusually pale.

Ryo had a bad hunch seeing his expression: “Jack? Don´t tell me that…”

“My mother is on that list as well…” the youngster confirmed his assumption in a strained voice.

Leo repaid Jack´s pained look for a while, before he nodded: “Go then…”

“Bloody hell…” Cullen murmured, as soon as the shaken Rider was out of their sight, while Leo stared at the lifeless messenger of the bad news helplessly. Once again the things went wrong awfully quickly…

*

After their return, Kame and Jin found almost all other Riders on the veranda. They were sitting there deadly serious and only Jane with Jack were missing. Just one look was enough for them to recognize that something was off…

“Will they be all right?” Koki wondered worriedly, when the two reached the stairs.

“There´s nothing we can do…” Ryo reacted gloomily.

“We´re here for them and they know it. That´s enough for now…” Leo assured them in a quiet voice, though he didn´t seem to be so certain at all.

So far carrying the basket full of fish each by one handle, Kame and Jin left it under the veranda and approached the gloomy circle.

“What happened?” Jin asked, while Kame eyed the newspapers on the table.

“An epidemic outbreak near the borders with Wyoming,” frowning Ryo replied. “Influenza.”

“Unfortunately in the area which Jane comes from,” Leo completed the information not less gloomily.

“That´s bad… She fears for her family?” his brother assumed.

“More precisely for what is left of it,” Cullen announced in a bleak tone.

Both youngsters stiffened.

“Oh, no… You mean that…?” Kame didn´t even want to finish the sentence.

“She lost her grandmother and sister,” Leo reacted, still staring at the sinister letters. “Jack´s mother is a victim, too.”

The following silence was heavy and shocked. Nobody was able to deal with the news easily. Did they really want too much to have just a couple of weeks without any problems?

“There´s not much we can do about it,” Cullen took up a word the first. “And you all know it.”

“She will want to go home,” Leo announced quietly, but with such a certainty, it made the others look at him in surprise.

“But Jane didn´t say…” Ryo started speaking, just to be interrupted by Leo.

“I _know_ she will.”

Jin exchanged a short silent look with Kame. Ryo didn´t seem to be willing to argue with his leader about the statement, and even Koki bit his lip to keep any remarks inside his mouth. Only the oldest Riders had the guts to oppose the younger Akanishi.

“Leo, I understand it´s not easy for her to accept this, but what would be the point in going there?” Cullen moved forward in his chair, giving their leader a serious look. “It would be only a useless risk.”

“I don´t think it´s a good idea either,” Nick joined him frowning. “I´ve heard some rumors in the city; it´s quite awful up there now…”

The young leader looked at them: “I won´t force any of you to go along,” he said slowly.

“Leo…” Ryo breathed out. “What do you…?”

“If Jane wants to go home, I´ll go with her,” Leo stated more than clearly.

Jin leant over the railing without any word and crossed his arms; he didn´t seem to be expecting anything else from his younger brother. Kame was carefully observing Leo´s face, not reacting either. Ryo and Koki looked abashed, but not surprised.

“What about our plan with Tabor then?” Cullen asked rather harshly.

“We´ll carry it out,” the younger Akanishi replied immediately. “We need money, anyway. We´ll leave after that.”

“In that case it´d be better if all of us went there; don´t you think?” Koki reacted in a serious tone.

“I said I…” Leo intended to repeat his previous statement, but this time Ryo repaid him with the interruption.

“Not to mention that I have a family nearby as well,” the black-haired Rider reminded him fiercely, pointing at the unfortunate papers. “It said it had spread to Wyoming as well.”

“We´re not gonna let you disappear again,” Koki completed decisively.

“Guys…” Leo took a breath, but seemed to be uncertain about how to continue.

“You really don´t have to go with us,” a very quiet and hoarse voice was heard from the door. “We can make it there with Jack just fine.”

Everybody turned to see returning Jane with red eyes and Jack with lowered head behind her.

“You´re not going alone, end of discussion,” Leo reacted uncompromisingly.

“ _We_ ´re the Riders, right?” Koki supported him. “So, we do every stupidity _together_.”

“Hey, you all…” Cullen cut into the conversation rather impatiently. “Do you realize that you can just make the situation worse over there?”

“That´s true…” Kame joined the oldest Rider. “There´s probably quarantine, it might be impossible to get into any bigger city whatsoever.”

“Family is important enough to us to risk that,” the Riders´ leader reacted surprisingly harshly. “Not all of us should go, though…”

Cullen sighed, already giving up on objections: “The opposite, we should not separate now of all times… We can watch each other´s backs only when travelling together.”

“Yeah, don´t think you´ll get rid of us like this,” Ryo agreed.

“I wouldn´t even want that,” Leo grinned sadly. “Cullen, I understand why you disagree, but…”

“I might disagree, but that doesn´t mean I´m not behind you as always,” the gunslinger interrupted him. “Nevertheless, don´t think I won´t stop you if you do something reckless again.”

“Thanks…” Leo seemed to be much more certain now.

Jane took a breath for the last attempt to persuade them: “I´m grateful you all take it like this, but really…”

“You´re in the minority here, sweetheart,” Ryo interrupted her kindly.

Leo reached for her hand and squeezed it lovingly: “It´ll be all right,” he promised quietly.

“So?” Koki raised his eyebrows.

“So, we´ll do it, you bunch of reckless kids,” Cullen reacted caustically. “End of wallowing around…”

*

Kame stepped closer to the table. He was not depressed, more like sad. So that was the end of their vacation… He pulled the newspapers towards himself to read the unfortunate news, but except the epidemic headlines, he noticed something else at the first page. It was the article about the bloody clashes between the US Army and Sioux Indians.

It was not the first time, there were some problems in the north with them, but this already seemed quite serious… That Mountain Post was really a headache causing piece of reading for sure.

Jane offered to prepare a cup of coffee for everyone, so that they could discuss their next move in more details and since Jack went to help her, Kame decided to take care of their catches meanwhile. In a broody state of mind, he took the basket and dragged it into the cellar. When he climbed the steep stairs out from the cool space again, he was not surprised that Jin was already waiting for him…

*

He turned to see what disturbed White from their sniffing game. It was Master and his Mate. They were walking along Fence side by side, discussing something very quietly. That was nothing unusual, but White seemed to sense something, what She didn´t like and walked away from Him. He snorted, unsatisfied that they were interrupted like that and then followed Her.

By the time He got to Fence, White let herself to be caressed by Her Master. Then also He noticed that something was wrong. Both Master and Mate seemed to be anxious. He reached over Fence with His head and pushed with muzzle to Master´s shoulder gently, to attract his attention. Master turned to Him, smiled and his small hand touched the place on His neck, which He liked so much.

“Leo didn´t say it yet, but as for the money, I think he´ll focus on the bank,” Master said something to his Mate.

“Yeah, it´s unlikely that Tabor drags his safe along every time he moves…” Mate replied, keeping his attention on the motionless White.

Master stopped caressing Him for a while, and looked at his Mate, obviously worried about something.

“Will you be fine with that?” he asked slowly.

Mate sighed: “Well, I didn´t come to Colorado to become a bank robber…”

“Me neither, Kame,” Master assured him hastily. “But I take this as a… necessary evil.”

His Mate patted White gently one more time, before he turned to Master.

“Nothing is only black or white, though some time ago I might have thought that. I won´t betray the Riders, just because I don´t like what they do. Not after everything what happened. Just… I hope this will bring us more profit than harm.”

“Me too…” Master agreed, seeming to calm down a little. “You know… Somehow, Tabor reminds me of Karnaka - another calculating, greedy bastard in the high position. And I want to help them against him as much as I can.”

“I agree… Though, it´s a shame we can´t do something about him without drawing our weapons…”

Master grinned, grabbed his Mate by an elbow and pulled him on the other side of Fence, away from House: “I like your pacifist nature… Among other things, of course.”

“Don´t tell…” Mate sounded amused.

“If we go with the gang, we can watch over them, so that they won´t do anything stupid, right?”

“Don´t you think you need that as well?”

“Kame… That was mean…”

A short chuckle was suddenly muffled.

He just snorted – it was always the same. They came to seek comfort from Him and White, but in real they were content just with being together. White heard Him and turned, nudging Him to His side, a little reproachfully.

He bared all teeth at Her, ignoring those two who made themselves one being again. They were quite persistent in it – He always wondered how they could keep breathing, when they blocked each other´s mouths like that. And as came for one being… He reached His nostrils to that sweet scent of White and took in as much as He could. White looked at Him amusedly and jumped away teasingly, starting their sniffing game again…

But suddenly something disrupted them. He raised His head too late to warn Master and his Mate that they were not alone anymore. That crazy Friend with flowery head stood at the side of Fence, with his eyes unusually big and his mouth wide open.

White snorted warningly, and Master with Mate jumped away from each other alarmed. Only then they finally noticed their Companion.

He backed off, pushing White with His head to move too – there was no space for them anymore. This was something to be solved among Humans.

*

When Koki left the veranda for a while, going to pee and then to check on the horses, as their small herd seemed to be a little restless, he definitely didn´t expect to be a witness to that scene he saw, when he approached the fence and the big stallion moved away from his view, to reveal two persons on the farthest side.

At first, the blonde Rider thought that he interrupted Leo with Jane, mistaking the brothers for their similarity. But that would be possible only if they had some clones, since he was pretty sure their couple was at the veranda at the very moment, sinking in a not very positive mood. Not to mention that Jane definitely had much longer hair…

Their leader and his girlfriend came to Koki´s mind only because he couldn´t imagine anyone else in a situation like that one was. In a tight embrace, those two were kissing quite eagerly, obviously not for the first time. But once the kissing couple tore away from each other, he couldn´t deny whom exactly he caught up on the rendezvous anymore.

Both of them, Akanishi and Handsome, stared at him in dismay, but their widened eyes couldn´t be bigger than his own. Jin and Kame… Jin WITH Kame… They were… hugging and _kissing_.

Koki opened and closed his mouth a few times, not able to form any words, while Kame´s face blushed and Jin´s expression turned into a picture of unhappiness.

“Holy crap… You… two… are… are…” Koki stuttered, totally astonished.

And then it hit him. So _that_ was why Akanishi was so upset and Kame so anxious, when he moved back to the barn. Not that they somehow hated him, they just wanted to be alone. Also other things popped up on Koki´s mind, once he realized what they actually meant. No wonder they were so anxiously clingy to each other all the time! Poor things…

A smirk started to sneak up on Koki´s lips, but never made it there, since the older one suddenly moved, rushed around the fence and grabbed Koki´s collar to pull him on the other side. Behind the bodies of horses, to avoid any looks from the cottage, Akanishi pressed him against the wooden pillar rather harshly and Koki was so surprised he didn´t even defend himself.

“Jin!” the younger one obviously didn´t expect that reaction either. “What are you doing?”

But Akanishi didn´t seem to hear him. He just stared into Koki´s eyes and it was quite a scary look.

“You will keep quiet about this,” he literally spat each word out, clutching the cloth of Koki´s shirt so closely, it was almost choking.

Koki repaid that stare rather impressed; he hadn´t witness such an outburst of the older Akanishi yet and it was much scarier than angry Leo. Though he was a little confused about the reason of it…

“Did you hear me?” the gunslinger urged when the blonde one didn´t react.

“Damn it, Jin, stop!” Kame was quite upset already and he tore the older one´s hands off Koki´s neck by force, taking a stand by the blonde one´s side. “What are you thinking? We can talk about this calmly!”

Akanishi pressed his lips together and his eyes kept piercing the blonde one without reaction. Koki altered his shirt a little, finally collecting himself and knowing exactly how to repay Akanishi for such a rough treatment.

“Well… That was… unexpected…” he cleared his throat. “I didn´t mean to… disturb you, guys.”

Kame looked at him sheepishly: “Koki… I´m sorry… we…”

Koki couldn´t help but burst out laughing, which made the other two stare at him even more shocked.

“What the hell are _you_ apologizing for? _I_ ´m sorry, ok?” he chuckled again. “But there´s not exactly a door at which I could knock around here.”

“Keep your stupid jokes,” Jin grunted, while Kame still tried to save the situation.

“It was not your… fault or anything. We forgot ourselves… a little.”

Being embarrassed, the younger one was definitely cute and a lot easier to deal with than angry older one.

“I bet you did, Handsome,” Koki grinned, while Akanishi´s face was getting darker and darker. “So, you two are… ehm, dating?”

“I´d say you should just forget what you saw and not ask stupid questions.”

Kame glanced at his boyfriend with a rather hurt expression. Well, they definitely seemed to have some history…

Of course, the real nature of their relationship surprised Koki, especially in Akanishi´s case; it was not so long ago Leo claimed his older brother to be always fond of girls. As for Kame… Well, the younger one was a mystery in more aspects than one. Still, Jin seemed to be upset a little too much over the fact Koki caught them on the hop and didn´t think about what he was saying. Being in Kame´s place, he´d have been quite offended…

“Stupid? I´d be careful with the words you use,” Koki recommended the older one.

“I don´t need any advices from you,” Akanishi gritted through his teeth.

“Maybe you should ask Kame-chan, what he thinks about it first,” Koki leant over the younger´s shoulder with his elbow, giving Akanishi a defiant look. “At least now I know, why you were so upset about me sleeping in the barn,” he noted amusedly.

“Just shut up already, you blonde dumbass,” Jin obviously didn´t appreciate his attitude and his gesture towards Kame angered him even more. “This is none of your business.”

“Well…. Since I know your little secret now, I´d say it _is_ my business,” Koki couldn´t help but kept teasing him, even though Kame´s eyes pleaded him not to do that; it was just a too great opportunity.

Akanishi moved towards him again, but Kame was quicker and stood up in front of him first, looking right into Koki´s eyes.

“Can you promise us to keep it secret then?” he asked rather humbly. “We don´t want to… You know…”

“Cause any disarray?”

“Something like that,” Kame admitted. “Can you do that for us?”

“Well, I´m definitely _not_ promising anything to that douche bag, who has just torn two of my buttons off,” Koki smirked looking at furious Jin. “But I can promise that to you, Kame-chan.”

The younger one was obviously relieved, while Akanishi looked like he would jump at the blonde Rider and strangle him at the second Kame would turn his back at them.

“Thank you…”

Koki shrugged: “You´re right that something like this is quite… private. Nobody else knows?”

“What? No,” Kame shook his head. “We didn´t tell anyone…”

“Not even Leo? Wow, I´d love to see his face when… Sorry, sorry, I´m not telling anything,” he stuck his tongue out on Jin, who started to growl something. “So, I´m going now, you know, to join the others. You should… eh,” Koki coughed to cover another chuckle. “Come back too.”

“Sure, we will… And Koki… Thanks for not judging us…” Kame seemed to be really pleasantly surprised by that. No wonder, Koki would bet they expected much worse reaction. People didn´t have much understanding for such… excesses. But Koki had a load of his own, so he could imagine what it was like. If they both wanted the other, what the hell others had to do with it?

“It´s all right, Handsome,” Koki smiled and patted the younger one over the shoulder. “Anyone would fall for you.”

“Stop joking, Koki, I´m serious…” Kame tried to thank him again.

“Me too, I mean it,” he assured the younger one winking. “I think you should even reconsider if this Mr. Angry deserves your attention…”

If stares could kill, Koki was pretty sure he´d have been dead already, so he decided that it was wiser to retreat for the moment: “I´m going first then! See you later, you secretive ones!”

*

The obviously amused blonde Rider walked away under the sky slowly darkening with clouds, while the motionless pair watched him all the way to the cottage in heavy silence. Kuro and Ukushi looked in their masters´ direction, as if to check on them, before they both turned and retreated even further than before.

Kame couldn´t shake off the incredulous surprise from such a positive reaction. According to what he knew, the society usually considered homosexual relations to be sick or ignored them with haughty ignorance at the best, therefore he didn´t expect some kind of understanding from any white man. But Koki surprised him greatly.

The blonde one might have been reckless and a little crazy, but he was definitely a nice person. He even started to mock them playfully right away; that was the reaction Kame expected the least of all. And if Koki reacted like that, then maybe also the others would not have condemned them, if they knew…

Kame turned to the older one to share his ideas, but just one look at Jin´s face almost discouraged him from it. His lover didn´t seem to be relieved, more like he was still pissed…

“I´ll strangle him, if he utters even a word,” Jin stated aggressively. “Why it had to be him? The most talkative one of all?”

Kazuya observed the frowning face with dark eyes, feeling somehow sad. Jin took that accidental revelation much worse than was necessary.

“Koki gave us his word, Jin,” he reminded him in a calming tone. “I think we can trust him.”

“I´d like to be so sure about it…” the pessimistic older one murmured.

Kame hesitated for a while, before he spoke again; it was a sensitive topic to discuss with Jin in such a mood: “Well, even if the others found out about us too, maybe it would not be as bad as we expect…”

The older one gave out a cynical chuckle: “As you have so many good experiences with the reactions to something like this, right?”

That was true, but Kame didn´t want to give up so easily. It seemed to him that Jin took a too negative stance to the whole matter: “Almost none, actually… I don´t exactly walk around asking other people about it. But some …”

“Exclude Indians from the list,” Jin cut in right away. “I bet not many will be left.”

That was finally something what triggered anger in Kame as well: “You make it sound as if we do something unforgivable,” he accused the older one.

“That´s not what I mean, I´m just not naive,” Jin protested. “I can clearly imagine what this revelation would bring and it´s not anything nice.”

“But the Riders are our friends now, your family even,” the younger one clung onto the hope, which awoke in him thanks to Koki. “Don´t you have faith in them?”

But Jin obviously refused to consider the blonde Rider´s reaction to be positive.

“I do, but not in this case. Friends or not, they´re people and people judge,” he insisted quite fiercely. ”I just _don´t want_ them to know about it. And I thought that we had the same opinion…” he added in an accusatory tone.

“Is it really so important for you what they would think of us? Or are you just ashamed of me?” Kame asked in a strangled voice.

“What are you talking about now?!” the older one burst out. “This is not about what I feel for you!”

“It is!” the younger one objected fiercely. “It _is_ about that very fact.”

One of the horses in the fence, Jack´s one, which was the youngest and wandered too close to the arguing men, jumped aside alarmed by the voices. Also Kuro and Ukushi turned their heads towards them uneasily.

“Fine!” Jin finally realized he was too loud and clenched his hands into fists, trying to mute his voice. “What do you expect me to do then? To march in front of all of them at once and introduce you as my boyfriend?”

Kame felt a strange pinching somewhere in his throat, which didn´t let him talk for a while. That tone Jin used hurt him. Why did they so easily end up arguing at all? He took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down, before he finally replied: “I´d have never wanted that from you and you know it.”

 

Something in Kazuya´s quiet voice made Jin stop fuming for a second and he observed the younger one more closely. The anger was still flickering inside him, but he suppressed it. Damn, if they were more careful, they didn´t have to have this stupid argument. He let the rising wind soothe his face and hair, taking back some control over his emotions.

“Kame… We have enough troubles as it is, don´t we?” he said, trying to relieve the tense atmosphere. “What about we avoid adding even more to them?”

The other´s expression remained strange though and his eyes reproachful, though Jin was not sure for what he should feel guilty.

“No more troubles…” the younger one repeated suddenly. “Sure. I understand… I´m going ahead then…”

And then Kame turned away and headed towards the cottage, leaving the older one behind with a feeling that he had said something awfully wrong and hurt him.

Jin stood there for a while, before he dashed after the younger one. He managed to catch up with him only at the back yard, where they could already faintly hear the voices from the veranda, and reached for his elbow: “Kame, wait…”

The younger one slipped from his touch hastily, avoiding his look, but Jin still managed to catch a glimpse of the other´s face… And his bad feeling only grew stronger.

“I think we´ve said enough, Jin,” Kazuya´s voice was kind of shaky and Jin didn´t like it at all. The younger one didn´t tell him what was really on his mind.

 _I might have reacted a little exaggeratedly_ , Jin admitted to himself. But it was only natural that he was upset when they were found out, especially by that blonde idiot. Even if Tanaka promised to hold his tongue, his behavior was so provocative, that Jin saw a red curtain in front of him just remembering it. He suspected it would be hell to deal with the blonde´s mockeries from now on and they couldn´t be sure if his talkative nature wouldn´t overwhelm the promise. Their relationship was their personal matter and Jin didn´t want anyone else to stick their nose in it.

Kame was obviously glad that Koki didn´t call them sick or weird, but there were other consequences to be considered. And the younger one seemed to be hurt by the fact that Jin was thinking about them.

“I said ´wait´,” this time with the bigger determination, Jin grabbed both younger´s arms, dragged him aside to the shadow of the shelter for wood supplies and pressed Kazuya against the wall, determined not to let him go so easily. “What are you thinking right now, Kame?” he asked urgently, looking into his glistening eyes.

The younger one breathed out heavily: “I don´t know…”

“Don´t lie to me,” Jin hissed, strengthening the grip. “Just say it.”

Kame swirled in his capture a little, but didn´t try to resist too hard. It took a few moments, before he replied and he avoided Jin´s look while speaking: “I just… I don´t know what you really think of us and that makes me… crazy.”

“You… You don´t know what _I think of us_?” Jin repeated slowly.

He was baffled. How could Kazuya _not_ know that he wanted him every damn minute of every single day? Didn´t he make it clear enough? It was complicated when they had to hide all the time, and their suppressed desires resurfaced every time they finally managed to be alone, but… It would be only more complicated if they told the others. If the gang knew, it would be as being watched all the time… They would never understand. Tanaka was always a little crazy, but the others… Why didn´t Kame understand it was easier for them that way?

Jin was looking at that handsome face and suddenly, he knew what to do about Kame´s doubts. He couldn´t find words anymore, but there were other ways.

Pushing away the idea of that they might be caught up again easily, he leant forward and locked the younger´s lips in the heated kiss. Their connection in this emotional state made his head spin and he persisted in the pressure even if Kame resisted at first and tried to pull away. But Jin´s passionate action soon overcame his resistance and Kazuya gave in with a muffled sigh.

His lips parted slightly and Jin conquered that warm tavern, feeling shivers, when their tongues touched. The younger one´s body trembled in his arms, when Jin deepened the kiss and pulled him closer, savoring on the other´s closeness.

It was long before Jin was willing to let Kame go.

“What _this_ told you about what I _think_?” he asked hoarsely, with a fastened heartbeat.

The younger one opened his eyes and looked at him. Those brown orbs were shining, but they were still kind of sad.

“Damn it, Kame!” Jin bit his lip, reminding himself to hush his voice, before he continued. “No matter what the others know or don´t, it won´t change anything between us, all right? Just… I´d like to save that kind of discussion for later… Are you with me?”

*

Kame gulped down heavily and did his best to smile. That passionate kiss awoke the swirling desire inside him as always, but still, it didn´t chase his doubts away, only deepened them. They were not in an easy situation and they both had to deal with it somehow, but sooner or later the others would find out and Jin was not willing to admit that.

Kazuya couldn´t say aloud that exactly what Jin mentioned was what he was afraid of. He witnessed the older one´s reaction related to Koki and he also remembered his behavior when Liwan confronted them back in the village. Those experiences made Kame fear that once their relationship wouldn´t be a secret, it would never be the same for Jin. He didn´t want to feel that way, it was as if he didn´t trust the older one, but he couldn´t help it. And he didn´t have the courage to talk about it either. So, Kame did the only thing he could think of, and in the darkening shadow, he kissed Jin back.


	33. Charms of women

**A** front door of the biggest house in Leadville opened even before Augusta managed to smooth the wrinkles on her skirt and a black face with wide eyes and even wider mouth appeared there.

“Madame!! It´s so good to see you again!” the female servant rushed to the street to help Mrs. Tabor with her hand luggage, while the elderly coachman loosened the belts, which held the heavy trunk on the back of the carriage.

“I´m glad to see you at good health, too,” Augusta reacted and gave one proper look to her home, two-story building with a sharp roof and neat balcony, before returning attention to her servant.

Bertha had been working for them ever since their house in Leadville was no more than a kitchen and one room and her attitude hadn´t changed a bit since then – she was loud but caring. Despite the fact that living in Denver was definitely luxurious; Augusta had always liked staying in Leadville more and the black woman was just one of her reasons for that.

“Come inside, you must be so tired, Madame! And you – hurry up with the luggage and carriage, Tom! It´ll be raining soon! Come, Madame, please!”

Bertha was overexcited as always, but it made Augusta smile. She let the servant lead their way inside the cool, calm house gratefully.

“It has been a long way,” she sighed, pulled the traveling gloves off her hands and looked around the spacious and as always properly cleaned up hall. “But it feels nice to be home again…”

“I´ll prepare a cup of my special tea for you, Madame. That will put you back on your feet,” Bertha flattened the gloves and put them aside on a small table under expensive mirror, which they bought with Horace long time ago - during their honeymoon in Washington.

“That would be nice…” Augusta agreed. “What about my husband?”

Bertha´s expression stiffened a little: “Mister Governor is not present, Madame,” she replied politely, but a hint of contempt could be heard in the servant´s voice.

Augusta frowned: “So, he´s at _that_ hotel again.”

“I don´t know, Madame, he didn´t say…” the black woman meant no harm, but Augusta was already too annoyed with her husband´s affair to let herself be soothed with half-truths and excuses.

“Spare your breath, Bertha. I´m neither blind nor stupid even if my husband thinks so… After that tea, prepare a bath for me, please. I need to get all that travel dust off of me.”

“Of course, Madame,” the servant nodded diligently and then continued a little hesitantly. “If you wish so, I can ask some errand-boy to find your husband to let him know about your arrival.”

“No,” Augusta denied immediately. “I will not beg him to show his face around me. Let him come on his own, if he notices my presence at all… Understood?”

“Yes, Madame.”

***

 

A sudden heavy rain chased the sunshine away in the late afternoon, and poured even all over the covered veranda, so the Black Riders gathered inside the cottage, sitting or standing around the table, all of them focused on the map spread on it and their leader.

“Tabor´s house is here, right in the city center, but when he resides in Leadville, it´s more likely to find him in the Clarendon Hotel on Harrison Avenue,” Leo drew a little circle in the outskirts of Leadville.

“How comes?” Jin, standing behind his brother´s chair, asked.

“It´s a public secret that he has a mistress – Baby Doe,” Ryo replied from the opposite side of the table. “He spends most of the time there with her.”

“There´s a gossip that Tabor treats his wife quite awfully for almost two years already,” Jack, leaning towards the table above the black-haired one, noted.

“I think I dislike him more and more,” the older Akanishi assumed.

“That affair may turn against him eventually,” Leo added. “Augusta is very popular in their circles and the prestige of the couple rose quite high in past years especially thanks to her.”

“While Baby is just a pretty doll, moreover twice as young as Tabor,” Cullen, studying the map from the right side, completed the information rather annoyed.

“Good for shagging, I´d say,” the blonde Rider, standing right behind Kame´s chair, assumed.

“You´ve seen her?” Jack goggled at him amazed. “Is she really that beautiful as they say?”

“Yeah, she´s a real beauty, man,” Koki admitted. “No wonder Tabor fell for her. But she seems pretty dull to me too. So I pass.”

“As if she´d have ever even _glanced_ at you,” Ryo snorted tauntingly.

“She did?” Jack literally beamed. “Oh, man… I´d like to come across her too…”

“Don´t be envious, buddies,” Koki laughed confidently. “It´s not my fault that my charm naturally attracts the women´s attention.”

“It´s more like the curiosity about who might be that crazy to bleach his hair,” Ryo reacted right away.

Koki leant above Kame, grinning at his buddy in a bright smile: “You´re just jealous.”

Ryo rolled his eyes and demonstrated his white teeth as well: “And you´re naive.”

“Shut up, you two!” Cullen snapped. “This is a serious discussion, not your playground!”

The young Riders quieted themselves quite offended, and Leo, who seemed to be impatient already, could finally continue.

“Our last information is that Tabor keeps his personal safe in Denver, but there´s a chance he has one in Leadville as well. I think it´s worth checking out.”

“Do you mean both of those places?” Kame, who was sitting on the left side from Leo and had been very silent so far, asked. “His house _and_ the hotel?”

“Yes,” the Riders´ leader confirmed. “And at the same time would be best. The less time it takes, the smaller chance for us to get caught. If the safe is there, we need to make Tabor open it or tell us the combination to get our hands on his money.”

“And if not?” a kind of gloomy Jin murmured from behind him. “I don´t doubt your interrogation methods, Bro, but if we don´t find any cash there, then what?”

“Then it will come down to the plan B,” Leo stated in a somewhat careful tone.

“B as the bank?”

Both the younger and older Akanishi focused their eyes on serious Kame, who put up the question. Also Jane, sitting next to him, gave the younger one a careful look, but Kame´s face was calm, as he repaid the leader´s look seriously. Leo leant back in his chair, eyeing the map again thoughtfully.

“Well, I wondered if we might try another cash delivery, but since we lost our contact, it would be a long time run…”

“It´d have meant waiting around the main roads for weeks, and even that wouldn´t have to pay off,” Cullen expressed his opinion to support the leader.

Leo nodded: “So yes, I propose to crash on the bank directly then. Nick, can you please repeat what do we know about it?”

The older Rider moved with his hand and placed a finger at the spot not far from Tabor´s house.

“The bank of Leadville, naturally founded by Tabor a few years ago. With high security, but not many guards, two men during the day, none during the night, the building is always locked up. The safe, safety deposit boxes and alarms are new, unfortunately.”

“The same type as in that casino, I guess…” Jack murmured gloomily.

“Exactly. The main banker is a fat pig and Tabor´s puppet. He lives on the opposite side of the street. There´re three regular employees and it´s open every day except Sunday. The biggest amount of money can be found there at the beginning of the month, or when the groups of silver hunters appear to exchange their findings, but those are exceptions.”

“Sounds tough,” Jin evaluated.

“Can we do it?” Ryo wondered. “That security around the safe...”

“If we´re careful enough, I´m sure we´ll manage,” Leo stated firmly.

“You can never be careful enough with something like this,” Jane noted a little darkly. “Don´t you remember what happened the last time?”

“Of course, I do,” Leo frowned. “It doesn´t mean we´ll give up in advance.”

“Having Tabor with us while going there, would have make it a piece of cake,” Cullen said suddenly.

“You mean to take him as hostage?” Ryo raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah… What do you think, Leo?”

Their leader didn´t seem to be very thrilled about the idea and neither Jane was.

“He´s not so easy to deal with as you think,” the brunette reminded.

“I agree, it´d be too risky, but if it comes down to it…” Leo seemed to think that idea over in a short silence.

“We´re going to hang if they catch us…” Jack murmured gloomily.

“Then we have to make sure they won´t,” the leader reacted rather calmly. “I´m not so happy about it either but… If we want to get to Hereford quickly, we need money.”

“If we didn´t like all of this so much, we´d have run from this fight long time ago,” Ryo assumed. “Don´t you think, guys?”

Nobody protested.

“That´s right… So…” Leo leant over the table again. “We will act separately in two groups for the plan A. Me, Cullen, Koki, Ryo and Nick will be going after Tabor. Jin, Kame, Jane and Jack will secure the house. According to what we know, there shouldn´t be anyone except some staff, the hotel will be a harder nut to crack. Nick and Jack will be guarding outside and in case anything happens, they will alarm the others. Kame, I´d like you to be in the lead of your group. Are you fine with that?”

*

Kame had to bit his tongue not to express his opposition against the bank idea. There was always another way how to survive on the trip. They could hunt and fish, they could find some temporary jobs, to do a favor here or there, they could earn some money any other way. But the Riders wanted the fast and easy way, not the hard and long one. Unfortunately, at the same time it was the most dangerous one.

He was well-aware that most of all, they wanted to repay to Tabor somehow, even a little bit. They lost too much because of the man to let him go away with it. But as the things were going, it was clearer and clearer they would have to run off and leave the Governor to rule Colorado in his own way and they couldn´t get over it just like that. It was supposed to be a final move against the Governor, before they would leave, at least for some time.

Kame understood that, and that was why, even though he was against the bank robbery, he was willing to go with them and help them. He didn´t like it, but if they were careful enough, it could work out just fine. Especially, if it wouldn´t come down to the plan B at all…

The thing was that he was worried. For everyone, but most of all for Jin… The older Akanishi had already proved to everyone once what he was capable of when something concerned his brother.

_What if the scenario like that happens again and Jin won´t be so lucky this time?_

Lost in his thoughts, Kame didn´t notice Leo was talking to him, until a hand waved in front of his face.

“Stop daydreaming, Kame-chan,” it was Koki dragging him back to the conversation. “Are you in love or something?” he asked with a mocking grin.

Kame´s cheeks warmed up, as everyone, except Jin, who stared at the blonde Rider rather irritated, laughed.

“I´m sorry…” he murmured.

“It´s all right!” Koki placed both hands on his shoulders, patting him calmingly. “We were just surprised; usually you´re not the one who turns his brain off,” he noted, obviously in Jin´s direction.

That amused the others even more. Kame rather avoided looking at Jin directly; he could feel his upset stare at Koki anyway. And in the common laughter, he didn´t notice a suspicious look Jane gave the blonde one.

“Leo asked if you can be in charge of the group securing Tabor´s house,” Cullen repeated, making Kame look at the Riders´ leader in surprise.

Leo shrugged under that glance: “Jin is too hot-headed and I need Cullen with me to press on Tabor. So, I want you to do that.”

Jin took an offended breath: “But I´m _not_ too…”

“Hush, Brother, it´s not anything personal,” Leo cut in immediately. “I´ve talked about it with Cullen too. Kame has better instincts to decide correctly if anything goes wrong. So?”

 _There´s no way back anymore…_ Kame reminded himself in his mind and nodded: “I won´t disappoint your trust, Leo.”

***

All tall windows of ´The Board of Trade´, the very first saloon ever built in the so-called Cloud City, were shining more brightly than usually in the late evening. The stools and tables made of white oak were shifted to the walls to make more space for guests who came to celebrate the day of Leadville´s founding five years ago. The celebrations were held throughout the whole city, with citizens drinking and singing in the streets, unattended children playing catch-up among them and alarmed horses stomping in their stables nervously from all that uproar. But only the cream of society attended the gala night in the saloon formerly owned by the Lieutenant Governor himself.

Tens of gas lights were hanging above the complicated haircuts of ladies in colorful dresses and the expensive hats of men, sparkling in the diamond dust mirror behind the mahogany bar counter, as well as in the plenty of glasses filled up with the stunning choice of liquids. So far decent conversations were getting louder and more vulgar with the passing hours, often being interrupted by giggling of tipsy women and by laughter of bolder men.

The most of general attention was focused around two persons – Horace Tabor was engulfed in an exciting poker game in the back room, while his mistress Baby Doe was attracting many admiring glances and flattery from the male part of the celebration party and mostly envious ones from the female one, as she was smiling at the circle of her admirers. Even though the two kept distance from each other, there was hardly anyone in the saloon who wouldn´t have known about their relationship.

So, it was no wonder that the cheerful chatting ceased a little, when another Leadville´s famous personality appeared. Augusta Tabor came in accompanied by the Mayor in rich dress, which flattered her still slender figure, and she was almost immediately surrounded by people welcoming her back in the city, which she had founded with her husband. Augusta was more than expected at the celebration for that very reason.

Nobody dared to even mention that Mrs. Tabor arrived only after her husband, but quite a heated discussion in the shadows fired up once Horace appeared in the main taproom to stretch his legs after a long game and for the moment was obviously surprised by his wife´s presence. And even bigger ruckus was caused once Augusta crossed the tile floor and with a smile, she kissed her husband on the cheek, coldly ignoring the fierce stare of the blonde beauty, whose smile froze once she noticed her arrival. Some present ladies started to whisper to each other gleefully and even some men exchanged the knowing looks.

That year´s founding celebration started to be quite interesting.

*

There was a greeter and a guard in one person standing at the entrance of the saloon roaring with voices and music, a tall black man in his forties, but after greeting and taking the coats from each and every guest he already seemed to be quite tired and just let everyone to pass by him inside without looking into their faces or at their ´invitations´ properly. So, it was no big deal to slip into the flood of lights and smell of alcohol and food practically unnoticed, since everyone´s attention was at the famous triangle.

The tall brunette in simple burgundy dress entered the crowd naturally, snatching a glass of sparkling wine from the plate, while the older man in a bit shabby suit followed her. The couple managed to take a spot between the entrance to the back room and the table full of profiteers having fun with the drinking beer competition.

They chatted a little, the brunette smiling at every man who glanced in her direction, just to be discouraged by a very sharp glance of her escort. Just once the woman was allowed to dance, with a sturdy man, who seemed to be quite charmed by her and kept talking almost non-stop, while they moved. Then the couple looked around the guests in the high mood once again, before they slipped out of the salon again, just as inconspicuously as they entered.

*

“Stop sulking, Chief,” Koki poked into his leader´s shoulder gently. “It´s clear to us that you´d like to dance with your lovely girlfriend till the very morning.”

“But unfortunately, your awesome face is too famous for that,” grinning Ryo joined his buddy.

“Shut up, I know that more than well,” obviously annoyed Leo grunted, not ever taking his look off the entrance of The Board building with both arms crossed over his chest.

The Black Riders were waiting in the narrow aisle between the closed tobacco shop and open brothel. It was a convenient spot with more than enough shadows and fuss to hide their group from the curious eyes, as horny cowboys kept pacing in and out the house with red windows. But still, Jin didn´t like his brother´s precious nose peeping out on the street, so he grabbed Leo´s shoulder and pulled him back a bit.

“Keep that awesome face in the dark then,” he reminded him.

“Come on, even you, Brother?” his brother reacted offended.

“I get it why you´re so worried. Jane is gorgeous in that dress; someone might snatch her from you,” Jin teased him.

Leo huffed grumpily, but before he managed to react, a slim figure in black slipped into the aisle among them.

“They´re coming back,” Kame, so far guarding further away on the Harrison Avenue, announced.

“That didn´t take long…” Ryo noted and stuck with his head out from the dark space to check on the ´couple´. Leo would do the same, if Jin didn´t hold him by the shoulder.

“How that _great celebration_ of theirs looks like?” Koki asked curiously.

“It seems to be quite a big event,” Kame summarized his observation of the nearby saloon. “The guests keep arriving even now.”

“Aww, there must be tons of barrels with alcohol…” the blonde one made a longing remark.

“And lots of noise along with it,” the older man´s voice grunted, when the well-dressed pair entered the aisle.

“So?” Leo eyed his girlfriend not without a fancy; even in the shadows Jane looked simply beautiful. “How did it go?”

“They´re there, both of them,” the brunette replied, while pulling her hair back into a ponytail, so that they would finally stop bothering her in the face. “Obviously _not_ together,” she added caustically.

“Tabor´s wife has arrived as well, so they´re causing quite some disarray,” Cullen completed her, after he pulled the uncomfortable jacket off his shoulders impatiently.

“But neither of them seem to be leaving any time soon,” Jane assumed.

“Great, we´ve got enough time to search the house and hotel and prepare ourselves then,” Leo reacted. “What about the director of Clarendon? Did you manage to get to him?”

“Yes,” Jane smiled in a satisfied way. “And apparently, he doesn´t know how to close his mouth. He practically confirmed that Tabor requested a safety deposit in the hotel. But he danced as a bear, my poor feet…” she complained, while she supported herself over her lover´s shoulder and slipped out from the heeled shoes.

“I can massage them for you later,” Leo promised her quietly, but loudly enough to make his companions look at each other amused and Cullen roll his eyes.

“I take you at your word, love,” Jane reacted and kissed Leo´s cheek. “But now, I´m mostly glad that I can get off _this_. I want my trousers; this is awful,” she kept complaining as she passed by them holding her skirt up further to the aisle, to the other end, where they had left their horses with Jack and Nick.

Leo, and not only him, thought there were many words for the dress Jane wore, and ´awful´ was definitely not among them, but there was no point to argue about that with the annoyed brunette.

Once Jane changed into more comfortable clothing, all of them gathered at the dark backyard of the brothel. The lights behind the red curtains in the first floor made their faces look kind of creepy and their faithful animals stomped on the spot restlessly. It was about time to trigger their plan.

“Everybody knows what to do. Take any cash available, try not to harm anyone fatally,” Leo said, giving to every member of his gang a short look. “If anything goes wrong, get the message to the other group first. Nick, Jack – I´m counting on you.”

Both of the mentioned nodded seriously. Leo turned to Kame now.

“If the safe is here in the city, once we get the combination from Tabor, we´ll come to you, but don´t wait for us, if it becomes dangerous. Is that clear?”

“We went through the plan like ten times, little Brother,” Jin reacted a little annoyed. “We _know_.”

Kame just nodded and Leo sighed: “All right… You know the meeting place – the north side of the cemetery,” he reminded them in the end.

“Hopefully not in the wooden boxes,” Koki sneered with his typical grin.

But Leo remained serious: “Be careful.”

*

 _I shouldn´t have come_ , Augusta thought, as she walked through the brightly lit streets towards her empty home.

At first, it was satisfying to see a sour face of that blonde whore, when she noticed her presence and Horace not being able of proper talk for once was quite amusing as well. But then Augusta noticed the looks, the whispers, the fake smiles. It was as if there was nobody among the guests, who would not know that she was a cheated, abandoned woman. Some pitied her, others laughed behind her back. It got even worse when Baby Doe was cheeky enough to flirt with the Governor right in front of her eyes.

In the end, Augusta was too fed up of being the source of amusement and left without a word. She didn´t even call a carriage, as she really needed some fresh air and a short walk in the chilly evening was more than suitable for it. Naturally, there were some forgotten existences in the dark corners, and also drunkards lacing the streets from one side to another, but nobody gave her a second look, as she walked around covered from head to toes in the dark coat, so that her expensive dress could not be seen. And their house was not so far… Their house… Even that was not true anymore.

Augusta felt pleasantly tired, when she reached the back door, so she could hope for the good sleep without any dreams at least. A sudden, loud neigh made her turn with one hand on the doorknob.

There were some stalls nearby, so that sound wasn´t anything unusual, but this one seemed strange to her. It felt as a warning and it came somewhere from the outside, somewhere from the dark. Frowning, Augusta turned towards the house again, and noticed that the windows were all black… Bertha had gone to sleep already? The black servant usually waited until she got back, no matter how late that was…

A flickering light appeared in one of the upper rooms, and quickly disappeared again. Augusta Tabor kept looking at the window for a while, before she opened the door determinedly, but very quietly.

*

Jack was squatting in the bushes near the entrance of Tabor´s residence, observing the main street closely. The sharp neigh behind the house made him stiffen for a while. Maybe one of their horses was frightened of something?

Nothing else was heard and when he peeked from behind the corner, the back yard seemed to be just as black and calm as they arrived. So, he returned to his previous spot, watching the direction of the biggest celebrations, so that he could let the others know immediately, if any of the owners would be coming back.

*

Tabor´s house was huge, but not big enough to hide the ugly iron box with the combination lock in the workroom upstairs. A young man with the black scarf covering his features, drew the heavy curtains over the window carefully, while the older one, also wearing the same scarf, let the light from their kerosene lamp increase, so that they could check on the lock more closely. So in the end, Lieutenant Governor had the private safe in Leadville as well.

“Exactly as Leo thought…” Kame sighed quietly. “It´s one of those complicated ones.”

“Without a combination, we´re screwed,” Jin assumed.

They both kept their voices low, even though it was not necessary. Only the black servant was present in the house and they tied her up to the chair downstairs in her tiny room, with Jane guarding her.

“Should we send Jack off to them with the message then?” the older one wondered.

Kame shook his head: “No, I think it´s better to wait for the result of the _interrogation_.”

“All right, let´s go search the bedrooms then,” Jin proposed, straightening up. “Maybe he´s one of those, who stuck their money _everywhere_ , so we could just try our luck with the mattresses…”

“I can´t allow you that, _Messrs_ ,” the female´s voice made both Riders freeze. “I´m quite fond of the cushions.”

Jin reached to his gun sheath and Kame stood up, when a light flooded them, much brighter than their lamp.

“Don´t try anything funny,” the voice said threateningly. “I´m armed and I assure you I could hit from this distance, even if I was half-blind.”

Jin and Kame exchanged the identical confused glances: _What the hell was Jack doing?_

“Put your hands up in the air. _Very_ slowly,” the woman, whose face was hiding behind the sharp light from the lamp, ordered. “And turn to me.”

They obeyed without objections and stood up face to face with the barrel of a quite big revolver. Once their eyes accustomed to the light, they recognized a stern face of the dark-haired woman after her best years, but with something very sharp in her eyes. She was definitely not a servant, Kame noted based on the rich dress she wore. There was only one option, who might that be – Augusta Tabor.

The lady of the house eyed both of them, as if she evaluated the intruders, and then she noticed the open cupboard behind them, which was hiding the safe.

“I suppose you´ve already figured that this theft will be kind of difficult.”

“Yes, Madame, unfortunately,” Kame didn´t know what made him speak that way, and if it was even a good idea, but he just followed his instinct.

Surprised Augusta blinked and lowered the lamp a little, though the revolver remained firmly aiming at them: “A young man with manners… How comes you´re a burglar?” she wondered.

“That would be a long story, Madame. I´m afraid, it´d not be very convenient to tell right now,” Kame replied politely.

“Well, I agree, you obviously didn´t come here to _talk_ …” the woman assumed. From some reason, lady Tabor didn´t seem to be angry, more like curious. “Judging from your… outfit, I guess you´re the members of those infamous Black Riders, am I right?”

No matter how calm Augusta Tabor seemed to be, Kame didn´t consider it to be a good idea to talk with her much, and he couldn´t think of a proper reply right away.

“Do you really think that we´d confirm it even if we were?” Jin murmured from behind the black cloth instead of him.

Mrs. Tabor pondered his response for a while.

“Well, in case that you _are_ _them_ , I…” Augusta didn´t finish, what she intended to say and both her expression and stance stiffened.

“It doesn´t matter if we´re or not,” another female´s voice was heard behind Mrs. Tabor´s back. “Put that gun down, lady. I doubt you would use it, anyway.”

“That is a good point, I admit,” Augusta noted surprisingly calmly, as she slowly lowered the hand with the revolver.

Both Jin and Kame breathed out in relief almost aloud. With two quick steps, the younger one approached the woman and quite gently pulled the weapon out from her grip, while Jane kept burying the barrel of her colt into the woman´s back. Mrs. Tabor didn´t fight, when they pushed her to sit into the chair at the wall.

“Don´t move,” Jane, whose face was also covered in black, ordered her strictly. “You let yourself caught up like kids,” she hissed towards the two. “Tie her up.”

“I assure you that won´t be necessary,” Mrs. Tabor announced, her hands placed one over another in her lap.

“Naturally, you´re not the one to decide that,” Jane snapped, but she was also surprised by the fact how the woman behaved. “You returned alone?”

“Yes,” Augusta confirmed. “My dear husband keeps entertaining himself a little more.”

“Really?” the brunette´s eyes above the scarf narrowed.

“She´s telling the truth,” Kame assumed confidently, already helping Jin to tie the woman to the chair, with the thin long rope, which was part of their equipment for the mission.

Jane murmured something unsatisfied, before she took the bright lantern, which Mrs. Tabor brought and checked on the safe on the other side of the room: “It seems we´re stuck, right?”

“That´s quite a fitting statement,” Jin reacted.

“Will we wait for the others?” Jane looked at Kame, who straightened up from binding of Mrs. Tabor´s ankles and nodded.

“I think that would be for the best,” the younger one said.

“Fine… Give her the gag then, we don´t need any unwanted attention,” Jane pointed at the still so calm lady.

“I have a better proposal,” August spoked suddenly. “What if I told you the combination?”

Three Riders remained staring at the woman in utter surprise, while she repaid their stares calmly. Kame was the first one to break the shocked silence.

“Why would you do that, Madame?”

“Let´s say that I have my own reasons.”

“What if it´s a trap?” Jin frowned. “Isn´t there a bomb inside or something?”

“I can assure you it´s not, young man. What would be the point in opening it if I was here too in that case?”

“True enough…” Jin murmured agreeing.

Kame was looking into the woman´s eyes curiously. There was something about her that somehow impressed him. He couldn´t remember exactly what he thought about Tabor´s wife, when the talk came up before, but he definitely didn´t think she would be like this. Despite the intruders in her home, she remained so composed and calm.

Augusta Tabor seemed to be a strong woman and far from being dishonest. He could understand why she was so popular. It was strange that she was willing to cooperate with them, and who knew what hidden intentions she could have, but he didn´t see any reason why not to try…

*

The founding celebration was not such a thrilling and successful night as Horace Tabor supposed it would be. All of the guests had more than enough amusement, he could tell, but he didn´t like the fact that the huge part of that amusement was caused by his personal affairs.

He didn´t expect Augusta to appear that evening, he didn´t even know that she was in the city. It was more than an unpleasant surprise, and obviously, that was the point of her action. His wife seemed to enjoy that attention she arose a way too much.

Even when Augusta left, and her absence finally made Baby stop flying around the room flirting with every man around, he didn´t find the feast, drinking and cards so enjoyable anymore and soon he gathered his lover, ignoring the whispers from all the corners and called a carriage to take them back to the hotel…

“Why did you want to leave so early, my love?” Baby whined from the corner of the carriage for the third time. “The fun was just getting started.”

“We can have some fun even without tens of eyes around, can´t we?” Horace looked at her sharply.

“Sure, but there are so few opportunities as this one was and…”

Lieutenant Governor leant forward and sealed the blonde one´s mouth with a kiss, more wanting to shut her up for a while than anything else…

*

The couple staggered through the corridors as the blonde one kept pouncing on her lover with kisses. The empty reception didn´t bother them, though under other circumstances Horace might have wondered about it, since the director made sure someone was there all the time, despite the late hour. The eagerness of his young lover overcame Horace in the end, and he pushed the door open hastily. Only when he searched for the key blindly, he realized something was wrong.

“Wow… Just continue, it wasn´t a bad show,” a mocking voice was heard from the corner of the room, which was sinking in shadows until that moment.

Baby yelped in fright, while Horace froze. _Who dared to…?!_

Two lamps were lit at the same moment, blinding them with the brightness. Horace pushed Baby behind his back, while he reached into his coat with the other hand, but his reaction was too slow.

The door got opened behind their back again and before he could react, his lover was pushed away from him screaming shortly, before her mouth was covered by a strong hand. When Horace´s eyes accustomed to the light, he recognized four men in the room, all of their faces covered with black scarves.

“I wouldn´t try anything stupid, Tabor,” a harsh voice of the man, who had Baby in a firm grip, warned him. “Pull that gun out of your coat very slowly. She will pay for any suspicious move you make.”

Standing there, in the middle of the room, surrounded by enemies, still a bit drunk and upset, the wave of anger went through Tabor. How could they dare?! Right in the hotel, in the middle of the city! Looking from one to another, he could only recognize three younger men – the talker and two other holding kerosene lamps and one older – the one who had Baby. It was hard to tell, which one of them was the leader – Akanishi, if he was there at all.

“What do you want?” he gritted through his teeth.

“That´s an easy question, Tabor. We want a certain combination.”

Bastards… It was a cheap move to go after his money in such a way. Horace had to admit that he didn´t expect it. After all those distant attacks and delivery ambushes and Akanishi-almost-captured issues, they had become bold.

“I´m afraid you are losing your time, I don´t have any safe here. This is a hotel, as you can see, I wouldn´t keep any savings here,” he announced sarcastically.

A muffled scream made him turn. That oldest Rider shifted Baby´s arm to her back, swirling with it painfully.

“No lies,” the man warned.

“I wouldn´t describe that deposit box downstairs as nothing,” the Rider sitting in the chair, who talked to him before, continued. “The receptionist was so kind to tell us that you stored quite an amount in there…”

Horace made fists from his hands: “So why didn´t that coward give you the combination too?”

“Because he said you´d fire him,” one of the others reacted. “We had no heart to push him…”

It was incredible how cheeky they were, making fun of him, threatening his lover… What a screwed up evening it turned out to be.

“That combination, Tabor,” the speaker repeated seriously. “If you think that we won´t hurt her just because she´s pretty, you´re badly mistaken. We have no time to wait until you swallow your damn pride. So, spit it out.”


	34. Moving on

**F** or a second, Horace thought that he could try to con those ten-time-damned Riders. They had behaved as such saints so far, hadn´t they? Helping out the peasants, letting the workers from _his_ mine escape, giving out _his_ money at every corner… They wouldn´t really dare to hurt an innocent woman, as it would be such an awful stain on their reputation among the poor ones, wouldn´t it?

But then, the Lieutenant Governor noticed _that look_ in their speaker´s eyes and he didn´t find any softness in them. That gunman was young, but his dark eyes were sharp, cold and somehow disgusted. At that moment, Horace was almost sure that it was Leo Akanishi himself. And he was damn serious in his threats… Not to mention that the bandit, who held Baby in a firm grasp, seemed to have no scruples at all.

Horace clenched his jaws and gave one thought to the revolver, which was still hidden in his inner pocket. But no, that was not a good idea. There were too many of them and even if he managed to endanger the leader, the rest of them would have reacted right away, which would also expose Baby to great danger.

The dark eyes suddenly narrowed and then the speaker turned to the Rider on his left: “Take his gun.”

The youngster put the lamp aside and approached the Governor. Upset, Tabor let him reach inside his coat, still trying to find the way out of the situation.

“Have you lost your voice now?” the presumed Akanishi asked coldly.

Horace couldn´t make himself talk right away. There was quite a big amount of cash in that safety deposit box. Right the day after, he intended to give it out the City Council members to make them agree with the Cursed Mine re-opening. It was _a lot_. How could he give it up so easily?

The speaking Rider got up from his chair and pointed at the bed: “Put her down there,” he ordered.

“What?” Horace´s voice got stuck in his throat for a while. “What do you want to do?!”

One of the younger ones took the spot at the door, instead of the oldest Rider who dragged uselessly fighting Baby towards the bed and the other youngster helped him to push her down on the mattress.

“I don´t make empty threats,” their leader reacted, watching Tabor closely.

Horace´s eyes widened when he noticed a sharp blade shining in the yellow light.

“Stop it! Immediately!” he demanded angrily, when the oldest Rider brought the knife near terrified Baby.

“Did you remember how to talk now?” the speaker asked placidly.

“Don´t you dare to hurt her!” Horace fumed in righteous anger.

“I won´t hurt her, I´ll just alter her pretty face a little,” the other Rider assumed quite viciously.

“Damn you! Get away from her!” Horace gritted through his teeth.

“Give us the combination then,” the speaker requested again.

Baby screamed fearfully, when the tip of the blade touched her cheek. And that was all Horace could handle. No dirty bandits would deform his love´s face!

“All right! All right!” he made a step forward closer to the speaker, before a cold barrel in his back clearly told him to stop moving. “I´ll give it to you…” he breathed out in defeat. “Just don´t hurt her.”

“Wait,” the leader said nonchalantly, and only then other two Riders froze, but they kept pressing his love down.

The Black Rider in front of him; and Horace was absolutely certain now, that it was Akanishi himself; pulled out a small paper and pencil from his pocket.

“Go on,” he looked at him defiantly.

Horace started to dictate the short line of numbers to him, while trying to hide his anger.

_A bunch of cowards outsmarting me, huh? Let´s see about that…_

“Tie both of them up,” Akanishi gave out his next order, once the paper was folded and hidden again.

Shortly after, Horace ended up with both his hands and legs tied with a strong rope on the bed next to his dear one, as those bandits did the very same with her. It seemed they would leave them in the room like that.

 _Good, good… Somebody will notice something is off once they try to open that box. Let them try,_ Horace thought, suppressing a mocking smile.

“Wait a moment…” the Riders´ leader said suddenly and only then Horace noticed that Akanishi kept observing him quite closely all that time. The young bandit leant over him: “Did you give us the correct number, Tabor?” he asked slowly.

Horace huffed annoyed: “Of course I did!”

“Well, all right then… But just in case, we´ll take her with us,” Akanishi decided, making the others look at him and Tabor gulp down heavily. The young leader leant even lower, staring into the lying Horace´s eyes. “Let´s say that for _every_ failure to open it we…”

“Cut one of her fingers off?” the oldest Rider completed him in an awfully satisfied way.

Horace´s face turned almost white: “You can´t do that…”

“You´ll have it confirmed soon enough,” Akanishi assumed, straightened up and gestured to his subordinates.

“No! No, please don´t!” Baby begged and cried, helpless against those bastards.

There was no trace of resistance in Horace all of the sudden. The other two were already dragging crying Baby towards the door. They meant it, and he couldn´t allow anything bad happening to her.

“I understand!” he spat out, trying to sit up on the bed without any success. “The last two – they´re in vice versa order!”

Akanishi turned to him and didn´t say anything. He just stared at Tabor motionlessly, while Baby wept in the other Riders´ grip.

“I´m telling the truth now, I swear!”

“Very well…” Akanishi pulled the paper out and corrected the numbers. “No more games, Tabor…”

“Yes, yes…” Horace nodded willingly. “That´s the real combination! Let her go now!”

“Good. Just one more thing…” the Riders´ leader pierced him with his dark eyes once again. “I want the combination for your personal safe as well.”

Tabor almost choked. How could they know…? That was impossible! Maybe that bastard was just bluffing…

“What…? What do you mean?” he asked carefully, trying to put on his best confused expression.

“Don´t play stupid,” Akanishi pointed at shaking Baby. “Give us the other one. Now.”

“I don´t have my own safe in…” Horace stuttered.

Akanishi´s eyes shone with something very dangerous: “I don´t care where it is, but you _have one_. Give us the number.”

“And be glad we don´t request anything else…” the oldest Rider completed him no less viciously.

Horace was shaking in anger despite the ties. At that moment, he couldn´t imagine anything worse than those bastards robbing him off _his money_. But what other choice he had, if he wanted to protect Baby? Well... He could at least try again, what already almost worked once…

*

It was a blind shot from Leo, to mention Tabor´s personal safe, but it worked out more than well. The Governor seemed that he would sooner bite his tongue off, before he would say the whole combination, but in the end they had the second line of numbers written down too.

Then they left the couple tied up like some strange Christmas gifts on the bed, forcing gags created from torn out bed sheets into their mouths. The blonde girl avoided even looking at them, as she just kept weeping, lying on her side, but Tabor seemed to be pretty pissed. Once he would be free, he would go after them with everything and everyone available, they knew. But if the combinations were correct, they couldn´t care less.

“You should be grateful,” Koki teased them on their departure. “We could have left you on the floor instead,” and with that he shut the door, locked it and threw the key out of the window on the way to the stairway.

*

Jin stared at the open safe in utter surprise. Augusta Tabor was a strange woman, really. She did give them the combination and it was the correct one. He looked to his side and found an equally surprised look there. But as always, Kame seemed to be more thoughtful about the situation, than shocked.

“I must say, I half-expected you to be joking…” Jane, standing behind their backs hummed towards the woman in the armchair.

Augusta kept observing their small circle around the safe, seeming almost as if she enjoyed the situation. Jin reached inside and whistled appreciatively, when three thick packages of notes were brought to the light.

“It´s not much, just a deposit for unexpected situations,” Mrs. Tabor noted lightly. “Is that sufficient for your needs?”

Jin looked at that fortune again, feeling a little dumb-founded. Just a _deposit_? Tabor family was on a completely different level…

“More than enough, Madame,” Kame reacted to the question.

“Good… May I ask you to take that folder with you as well, then?”

The younger one looked inside the safe now and pulled out a thin dark-brown folder and another one, a little thicker blue one. Both of them were holding some papers together, carefully tied up with thin strings.

“You mean this, Madame?” he straightened up and showed them to the woman.

“Yes, exactly those…” Augusta nodded, somehow more quietly than before. “Both of them,” she added after a short moment of hesitation.

“Why?” Jane asked sharply, her suspicious look piercing the woman.

“Don´t ask me about anything and just take them away,” Augusta replied. “I don´t care what are you going to do with them, once both of them disappear from this house.”

The Riders looked at each other hesitantly.

“And if we don´t?” Jin wondered curiously.

“I just ask you for a little favor in exchange for my cooperation. Is it too much to ask from you, _Black Riders_?” Mrs. Tabor reacted caustically.

Her remark was obviously meant very offensively, but for once Jin rather didn´t react on it.

“Is it something personal?” Jane asked instead, still frowning.

“Yes…” Augusta admitted. “It has nothing to do with you, you don´t need to worry about it.”

Both Jane and Jin turned to Kame, who kept observing the lady of the house for a while, before he nodded: “All right then.”

None of the two protested, actually they were glad that Kame agreed. At least, they would not have to feel indebted to the woman.

“I´ll take it,” Jane accepted the folders from Kame and the money from Jin, hiding both inside the leather bag on her shoulder.

Then Kame approached Augusta Tabor once again. Just hours ago, he thought that he would feel much more guiltily about doing something like this, but Mrs. Tabor´s attitude did the actual opposite to him - it was as if they were doing a good thing.

“Aren´t those ties too tight, Madame?” he asked. “We may loosen them up a little.”

To the surprise of them all, Augusta smiled at him: “No, it´s all right. Thank you for asking, young man. I just hope you treated my servant the same…”

“Yes,” Jane confirmed slowly. “She´s in her room, scared but otherwise fine.”

“Good. You should be going now then, shouldn´t you?”

“You´re more than right, Ma´m,” Jin tipped the hem of his hat and headed outside the workroom as the first.

“We…” Kame shifted from one foot to another a little anxiously. “I want to…”

“Oh, you don´t want to thank me, do you?” Augusta looked into his eyes, not hiding the mocking tone.

But Kame didn´t let himself be discouraged: “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Tabor,” he said. “And _thank you_.”

“Well… It was an unexpectedly interesting meeting for me as well,” Augusta admitted, obviously amused now. “I expected the Black Riders to be more…”

“Dirty?” Jin offered from the hall.

“Rude,” the lady corrected him.

“Those money… They´re for a good cause, Madame,” Kame stated a little apologetically in the end.

“I´m sure,” Augusta reacted almost chuckling.

“Come on… You´re so sweet, handsome, but let´s go already,” Jane placed both hands on Kame´s shoulders and directed him towards the door. “Good night, Mrs. Tabor. And we´re sorry for the inconvenience,” Jane looked back for one last time.

“I can handle some discomfort for a while,” Augusta reacted already in that same noble tone as before. “Just leave already before I regret my decision.”

The brunette´s face hidden behind the scarf seemed to brighten up a little, before she nodded and then all three of them were gone.

“And don´t get caught,” Augusta whispered to herself, only after their steps ceased away and disappeared from the house.

*

As the main celebrations were focused in the further part of the city, the main street was so calm and empty, that it was really tiring to keep an attention on it all the time. When Jack forced himself to keep on alert, his head started to ache as hell. But when he closed his eyes, it was much better. So, he meant to let his mind rest just for a moment, really a short one. He would hear if someone was coming anyway, right?

Something wet touched him on his neck. Jack yelped in surprise and almost jumped out of his skin.

“What a nice guardian we have, really,” an upset voice above him commented Jack´s clumsy slip along the wall, over which he was leaning, and ended up on his butt.

“What…? Who…?” the youngest Rider stared at the huge, pitch black head, which was leaning towards him. It took him three seconds to realize it was Kuro, who tore him off of his almost napping and his master was standing right next to him.

“Get up, sleepy head, we´re leaving,” Jin announced.

“Already? It´s done?” Jack finally shook the surprise off. “You have it?”

“We have, more than enough,” another voice confirmed from his side and a slim hand reached towards Jack to help him to get up. “Kuro, leave him already,” Kame asked the horse, who kept pushing his big head into the youngster.

“He deserves a bigger punishment than only this,” Jin assumed, but still clicked his tongue on the stallion to make him pull away from the young Rider.

“I´m sorry, I didn´t...” Jack, already back on his feet, stammered.

“See that woman going inside the house?” Jane, waiting on the street with the reins of two horses in her hands, finished for him. “We´ll definitely discuss that later.”

Poor confused Jack followed Kame through the bushes feeling rather guiltily. He didn´t know exactly for what, but he was sure that he would get scolded pretty much later. Just when he managed to put his boot into the stirrup, the sound of some horses approaching made him freeze.

“Back behind the corner!” Kame, already nestled in the saddle, commanded sharply.

Their little group managed to lead the horses into the shadows just in time to avoid being exposed to the approaching riders. Kame slipped down from his mare again and returned to the side of the street quietly, leaving the other three behind. He had a hunch there was no need to be worried, when he noticed five riders, riding fast right towards Tabors´ house, but he couldn´t be sure until they were right in front of it and stopped.

“Go check it out,” Kame heard Leo´s voice, sending probably Nick on the spy and quite relieved he straightened up.

“That won´t be necessary, we´re right here,” he announced loudly enough for everyone.

“Kame?”

“Yes,” he moved to a better light, while also Jin, Jack and Jane incited their horses forward, the older Akanishi leading Ukushi as well.

“Everything all right?” Leo focused his eyes on the members of the second part of their group one after another.

“Yeah,” Kame confirmed. “We´re already done here.”

“Done? So there was no safe at all?” Cullen reacted as the first, sounding quite upset.

“On the contrary,” Jin replied, already stopping next to Kame and handing him the reins over. “That lock was a piece of cake.”

“Are you kidding?” Koki gaped. “That line of numbers is never ending!”

“You´ve got the combination from Tabor?” Kame asked.

“Yes, it took some pressure, but he spat out both of them in the end… We managed to empty the safety box in the hotel. But how did _you_ get the combination for his personal safe?” Leo asked in return.

“I think it´s better if we explain that later…” the younger one reacted and hopped up on his mare again.

“Right, we should get out as quickly as possible,” Cullen agreed.

Leo nodded: “Fine. Save your energy, we won´t stop until tomorrow evening. I don´t want to give Tabor any chance of catching up with us.”

“Was he sad that you broke into his money-box?” Jin assumed gleefully.

“Actually, he seemed ready to burst out from anger any second,” Ryo reacted.

“And it was more than an amusing view,” Koki completed him. “We should have taken a picture…”

And in the light and amused atmosphere, the Black Riders left the Harrison Avenue and soon after that Leadville itself, while the night sky above the city burst out in hundreds colors of the celebratory fireworks.

***

 

It was long after lunch time when the director of the Clarendon Hotel finally broke inside the Governor´s suite, with a blacksmith´s help and he found Mr. Tabor helplessly rolling on the floor and his mistress only half-conscious on the bed.

As soon as the gag was out of Governor´s mouth, all the hell broke loose over the heads of the director, his employees, and basically everybody in the city, his loud swearing stirring up the whole hotel, before he requested the Sheriff to come immediately.

Just an hour later, a twelve-man-group set off from Leadville, searching for the tracks of certain outlaws, more wanting to get as far as possible from Tabor´s anger, than believing they would actually find anything.

At that moment, Augusta Tabor was sitting at the window in the living room, enjoying the late breakfast and coffee. Her hands and legs still a little stiff from the long sitting, as it took quite long before they were found by Tom in the late morning, but still, she seemed to be content.

Mrs. Tabor calmly watched the Sheriff´s men hurtling down the street ridiculously fast, pondering how she would explain the open safe to her dear husband, who was about to appear. Actually, she could already hear him stomping up the stairs and then down again and she was almost playing with an idea to tell him the truth, just to see his expression.

“Where is my wife?!” Horace´s voice resonated somewhere in the kitchen.

“Madame is dining in the living room, sir. She needs to gather her strength back; it was such an awful night…” Bertha talked on in a quieter voice, but the words were still recognizable, even though another stomping of her husband almost drowned it.

“What the hell happened here?!” Horace burst inside the room.

Augusta was of an impression that she had never seen him walking so fast. She looked up at Horace´s flushed face and had to suppress an amused smile. His fine suit was all crumpled and his mustache, about which he was so damn proud, was so messy that he looked like a walrus.

“Nice to see you too, Horace,” Augusta noted and sipped on the strong coffee again. “I´m glad you are all right. I´ve heard from Sheriff - you´ve been ambushed at the hotel, right?”

“Screw the hotel, I´m asking you about the safe _here_! How the hell did they open it? I gave them the wrong combination!”

Augusta put the cup down on the table: “I don´t understand, Horace. Those outlaws, who broke into our house, didn´t know any combination, I´m sure. They threatened me with my life; I was forced to give it away. They were so menacing…” she placed a hand on her chest sighing. “I´m shaking even now. I suppose we both had an _awful_ night.”

Horace´s mustache twitched, as he tried hard to suppress another outburst of anger.

“What about those folders then?” he snapped another question. “Did you hide them somewhere?”

“Oh, no, they took them too, unfortunately,” she reacted regretfully. “They probably thought it would be useful to them…”

“This isn´t happening…” her husband wheezed and collapsed into a free chair heavily.

“Horace, are you all right?” Augusta asked, wrinkling her eyebrows in a pretended concern. “Should I call Bertha? She can prepare a cup of her tea for you. That will make you feel better.”

“The only thing, which would make me feel better right now, is those bastards hanging in the air by their damn necks!” Horace hit with his fist over the table so hard, that the rest of her coffee almost spilled out.

“Calm dawn, Horace, this is not good for your stomach,” she warned her husband.

“Stop acting like you care, Augusta! You know very well what was in those folders!”

“Yes, I do know that. But I was only a lonely woman, I couldn´t stop them from taking it,” she reminded him calmly. “Maybe if you were here, at home, you could have done something. But me, Horace, a weak woman, you can´t blame me for this, can you?”

The Lieutenant Governor stared at his wife for good five seconds, his face completely red. He opened his mouth for a few times to say something, but he couldn´t. In the end Horace got up and without any other word, he left the living room. Augusta smiled for herself. Finally, she got some satisfaction for how Horace treated her all that time and it felt damn good.

It was true that a certain mine was very profitable for her as well, but she had always hated the way her husband ran it, forcing those poor people to work themselves to death in there. And she couldn´t do anything with it until now. And as for the other folder… Well, she knew she couldn´t resist forever, not with how persistent Horace was, but the missing papers would definitely buy her more time to prepare for it. Getting rid of those folders was definitely worth of the night spent tied up in the armchair.

Augusta finished her coffee and with a flavor she returned to her meal.

***

 

Leo was not joking; they really didn´t stop for longer than a few minutes until the twilight of the day after. By then they were tired, sore from the long ride, and also wet to the bones. It started raining right in the morning and the sky didn´t seem to be clearing up any time soon. But the exhausting ride was worth the relative safety they felt, when they finally settled on the hill above the Idaho Springs.

For most of the travel away from Leadville they used the main road, as it was the quickest way, but at the first convenient spot they ascended to the hills and continued more slowly, but securely over the rocky terrain. It would be much harder to track them like that for their expected pursuers.

With the weakening light, the rain turned into drizzle, which was not much better as the air remained awfully damp. Since they were hidden quite far from the road, it was worth some risk, so Leo agreed with setting up a small fire.

While Nick and Ryo kept cursing over the wet wood, Jane with Jack took care of some modest dinner preparation, and Leo with Cullen sat together under the group of trees, counting up the money they stole from Tabor. Jin, Kame and Koki unsaddled the horses and gave all of them something good to eat, as a reward for the long trip.

After that Kame asked Jane if she needed any help, but she sent him and also Jack off to rest, since the other two Riders still didn´t manage to get the fire going anyway. At first, Kame thought that he might show them a little trick the Indians taught him, but since both Nick and Ryo snapped at him not to disturb them from their task, he just shrugged and went to find a blanket for Ukushi in his stuff. The mare didn´t like to get wet, when it was cold.

On his way, Kame noticed Koki sitting on the fallen tree and sharping some long firm sticks, which they could use for toasting of marinated beef, since the kettle was prepared for potatoes and beans.

Kame looked around, but didn´t see Jin anywhere and he thought that the older one probably went to relieve himself. So, he quickly headed towards the blonde one, determined to get at least one answer to many questions in his mind. Since it was far enough from the others, he wanted to use the opportunity, which wouldn´t have to occur again any time soon.

“Koki, can I ask you something?” he started as soon as he approached the log.

“Sure,” the blonde Rider looked up and patted the spot next to him, before grabbing another stick. “What´s up, handsome?”

Kame sat down and kept looking at the wet grass for a while, before he spoke: “I just wonder _why_. Why did you react so calmly about… you know…”

“About you and Mr. Upset?” Koki figured and stopped working with the wood.

“Yeah…” Kame nodded. “People are usually… disgusted, or angry. Or ignore something like this in general, but you… You didn´t seem to be surprised with two men dating, more like with the fact that it was me and Jin,” he was glad he managed to express what bothered him somehow and looked at the other Rider curiously.

Koki grinned a little: “Well… Haven´t you ever heard of the _mutual solace_?”

Kame was honestly confused and shook his head.

“Never mind… Montana is still kind of wild after all…” the blonde one noted and threw the knife in the air, just to catch it again, taking a few moments to consider his next words. “Well… We used to be working on a couple of farms, you know. Naturally, there were a lot of cattlemen and cowboys, all guys. And since there were not many opportunities for them to have some fun with the girls, if you didn´t seduce the farmer´s daughter, of course,” Koki laughed shortly, as if remembering something. “They… They had this kind of relation. They had fun with each other instead.”

Kame stared at the blonde one quite disturbed by such information: “I had no idea that it´s so…”

“Common?” Koki completed. “As far as I know it is, people just don´t talk about it. Not that I´d understand why they enjoyed it so much, it was really weird sometimes… All of them were so damn _stinky_ ; it was gross, really…”

Kame opened his mouth and then closed it again, somewhat lost on words.

“Not that _you_ ´re smelly or something!” Koki completed hastily. “I didn´t mean it that way, Kame-chan! You two are the first I know, who are… different.”

“What do you mean?” Kame asked quietly.

“Don´t take it in a bad way, handsome, but it was just a pastime for those cowboys, something to fill the free time with. But in your case… It didn´t seem to me that you´re doing it just because you are bored or lacking women. You take it…” Koki obviously hesitated.

“More seriously?” the younger one offered.

“Yeah, that´s what I meant, but…” Koki scratched his head sheepishly. “Ah, I should rather shut up, it´s not my business, anyway.”

“No, no, it´s all right,” Kame assured him. “I´m glad you´re saying this...”

The younger one avoided the inquiring look, which Koki gave him.

“What about the others?” he asked quickly. “Did they encounter those men too?”

“I don´t know,” Koki shrugged. “If they did, they probably ignored it, just like everybody else. If something like this is kept secret, there´s nothing to talk about. Though… There was one occasion, when I heard some pretty awful things about it…” the blonde one got serious suddenly.

“When was it?” Kame asked, feeling uneasy.

“When I was captured in that sandstone quarry…” the other one replied frowning.

Kame stiffened, realizing whom that might be concerned to.

“I heard out the guards once,” Koki continued. “They were talking about Grenet and it wasn´t anything nice... There was this boy running after him all the time, I don´t know his name. It seemed that Grenet was using him in more ways than just one.”

Kame listened to Koki´s disgusted voice and felt sick. Here it went again – Math Grenet. If all homosexually orientated men behaved like him, it would be no surprise if the society condemned and burnt them all at the stake like witches hundred years ago.

“Actually, I´m not surprised hearing this,” he murmured gloomily.

Koki looked at him curiously: “Do I want to know what…?”

“No, believe me, you don´t,” the younger one reacted right away. “Just… Grenet is a disgusting creep.”

“I do believe you,” the blonde one agreed willingly.

“Thank you for telling me all of this, Koki,” Kame rather left the unpleasant topic. “And also for keeping quiet about us. I appreciate it.”

“Then tell that cocky boyfriend of yours that he should appreciate it as well,” Koki grinned.

Kame sighed: “Jin is more… complicated.”

“I can imagine,” the blonde Rider laughed, not without an understanding. “Look, Kame-chan, if you want to talk, you can come to me, anytime.”

Kame smiled at him gratefully. He felt much better now, knowing more about Koki´s attitude. It was good he could talk with him a bit. At that moment, he realized just how much he missed Liwan… Excluding Jin, there was no one to whom he could confide with anything. Not that Koki could take Liwan´s place, but he was a really good guy and it was damn liberating to have someone in front of whom he didn´t have to pretend.

“I´m really glad I saved you from that quarry back then, Koki,” he stated in the end.

“Definitely no more than I am,” the blonde Rider grinned.

*

When Jin returned to their temporary camp, he felt much better. There was no time to get some proper relieve or stretch on the way, as his little brother set up quite a crazy pace of their retreat.

Patting Kuro on the way, he looked around to see that Nick and Ryo finally won the battle against the wet wood and the first flames made the approaching evening much more pleasant. And then he stiffened a little, when his eyes fell upon a spot nearby. That blonde jerk was sitting there with his Kazuya. They were talking quietly, smiling at each other.

_What so nice could those two have to talk about?_

“Jin! Can you call everyone out here?” Leo´s voice disturbed Jin from staring in that direction.

“Sure!” he waved at his brother, who still sat with Cullen under the trees _._ “Sure, I can…” he added more quietly and headed to the fallen tree first.

*

Jane covered the kettle with a simple metallic plate, to keep the side dish hot, once it would be ready and then joined the circle gathered under the group of tall conifers, which protected them from that annoying drizzling a little.

“We have thirty thousand dollars, which is definitely a better result than we expected,” Leo had just summarized, holding the pile of notes in his hands.

“Considering that we didn´t need to bother with the bank at all, definitely,” satisfied Ryo agreed.

“I´m glad about that too,” their leader smiled. “For now, we have more than enough for anything necessary, for suppliers, bribes, or anything else happening on the way. Half of it will be carried by Cullen, the other half by myself.”

“Who would say that Tabor would stock so much at one place?” Jack wondered.

“Considering how upset he was, I bet he had some dirty plans with it,” Ryo assumed.

“He should be glad that we took just his money,” Cullen murmured, hiding one part of the money. “I was really tempted back at that hotel…”

“I must agree,” the black-haired one frowned at that. “He came out of what he had done just too lightly.”

“We all agreed that we leave it that way for now, didn´t we?” Leo reminded them. “We have other things to deal with. Tabor will get what he deserves, eventually,” the leader assured a little gloomy gang.

Jane placed a hand on Leo´s shoulder and smiled at him, when he looked up. Also the others murmured something in agreement.

“How did you make Tabor tell you the combination, anyway?” Kame asked.

Leo reached inside one of his pockets and pulled out a crumpled paper, looking at it thoughtfully: “We threatened his mistress. He seems to really care about her, so it was not so hard.”

Kame frowned a little: “Can I see it?”

“Sure,” Leo handed the paper over to him. “But you were really lucky with his wife; I would have never assumed she would be so cooperative.”

“Neither have we,” Kame murmured, reading the whole line of numbers. “Hmm, I´m not sure, since we didn´t write it down, but I think Tabor gave you the wrong numbers. The last three are in a different order.”

“What?!” Cullen snapped. “That bastard! He tried to pull off the same thing with that safety deposit at the hotel!”

Leo´s expression turned quite dark as well, but he didn´t say anything.

“It seems he doesn´t care _so much_ about her then, since he risked it,” Jin noted in a disgusted tone and Kame glanced at him so briefly that nobody noticed it.

“Well, then… It had to be quite an awful surprise for him, when he got back home,” Koki grinned gleefully, dragging more satisfied expression also from the others.

“Serves him right,” Ryo snorted.

“All right, let´s see those folders you mentioned before…” Leo looked at his girlfriend, as she already reached inside her bag and pulled out the blue one first. “I really wonder why Tabor´s wife would want you to take them away…”

Jane released the knot and leant over the papers with Jack behind her shoulder, trying to read it in the rest of daylight, while the others waited.

“That´s… interesting,” the brunette evaluated. “These are the divorcing papers…”

“Really?” Leo raised his eyebrows.

Jane flipped through a few pages: “It seems to be arranged very neatly…”

“I bet Tabor hired some shitty expensive layer for it,” Koki guessed.

“There´s only one signature though,” Jane announced her discovery. “I suppose Madame Tabor doesn´t intend to make it easy for her husband.”

“So, she really wanted us to take it away for her own sake,” Kame murmured.

“You were right, she didn´t lie to us,” Jin smiled at him shortly, which obviously improved the younger one´s mood.

“It´s nothing useful for us, though,” Cullen assumed annoyed. “What about the other folder?”

“I´m dying with curiosity now,” Koki joked, while Jane placed the blue file into Jack´s hands to take out another one.

When she stared at it for quite a while, not saying anything, the others got impatient.

“Jane, stop torturing us!” Ryo urged her.

“What is it?” even Leo asked.

Jane raised her eyes from the paper rather surprised: “It´s the property deed for the Cursed Mine.”

The rest of the gang stared at the brunette in pure disbelief.

“You mean that…?” Jack gaped.

“Anyone, who has this paper, has the ownership of the mine and everything going out from it. Without it, Tabor is screwed,” Leo summarized still pleasantly surprised.

“Actually, it will probably fall into the property of the state,” Nick noted, for once with a wide smile.

Koki grinned: “Nice. So we _did_ strike a blow to him in the end.”

“With the help of his incredible wife,” Jane reminded them, closed the folder and looked at Leo with a vicious smile. “Love, can I have the pleasure of adding this to our little fire? It seems to be lingering a little…”

Leo got up and pulled Jane closer for a short kiss: “Of course, my dear.”


	35. Bound for Fort Collins

**W** hen the spring night spread its dark blanket over the hidden camp, the atmosphere around the small fire was quite relaxed. Just the idea of Horace Tabor fuming over not only the stolen money, but also the lost rights for the Cursed Mine´s profits made the Black Riders keep smiling and for that moment, they considered the revenge on the Lieutenant Governor for their lost friends to be sufficient.

“I´m still a bit shocked, though,” Ryo said after they finished their late dinner, seated on pelts as close to the flickering warmth as was possible. “I´ve never thought that Tabor´s wife would be… like she seems to be.”

“Me neither,” Kame reacted from the opposite side of the campfire, still with that thoughtful expression he had ever since they had left Leadville. “It was just a short encounter, but she really is an admirable woman.”

“I´m shocked about something else then,” Koki joined the discussion with a satisfied sigh, since his stomach was finally pleased enough. “Why would she want to stick with someone like Tabor? Giving us those papers and all…”

“I´d say that she just wants to get the best out of their divorce,” Jane, sitting with her legs folded under her and covered with the warm blanket, added her opinion shrugging. “I´d do the same.”

“Then I´m glad you don´t have a reason to,” Leo noted with an exaggerated relief, gaining a smack over the shoulder from his girlfriend, while Jack tried to suppress his amused chuckling unsuccessfully.

“But still, that doesn´t explain why would she tell you to take that deed for the mine as well. It will influence her badly too, won´t it?” the black-haired Rider objected.

“You´re right, both Tabors have been involved in the mines´ business from the very beginning,” Nick confirmed.

“Maybe she´s not such a cheapskate as her husband,” the blonde Rider offered one explanation.

“I don´t think that we´re able to explain Augusta Tabor´s motives properly,” Kame assumed, altering the half-burnt sticks on the edge of the fireplace.

“And it doesn´t matter, does it?” so far silently smoking Cullen summarized. “I don´t see a single reason why we should care, since we´ve got what we needed.”

Kamenashi didn´t seem to agree with that statement completely, but he had enough respect towards the older man to keep quiet. On the other hand, Leo nodded slowly: “True enough… And it was quite easy for once.”

“Deservedly so,” Ryo stated with a sad smile.

A short, pleasant silence fell upon the camp, before the leader of the group straightened up: “All right, we should get some rest, guys. I want us to be on the way again with the first sunbeams. Who is up for the first watch?”

“No watching, but a great idea about sleeping, Chief,” Koki got up too and yawned. “Even though it´s damn too wet for that all around here, really…”

“You´ll live through it. We cannot risk a bigger campfire,” Ryo scolded him mockingly.

“I know, I know…” the blonde one´s eyes suddenly beamed, as every time when he had one of his ´super´ ideas. “Hey, Kame-chan, would you mind to warm me up during the night? You obviously did so well with Jin before…”

The Riders began to laugh except for Kame, who looked at Koki rather reproachfully and for quiet Jin, whose dark eyes literally stabbed the blonde one. And also except for Jane, whose expression turned more than thoughtful at that moment, as she eyed all three guys.

Suddenly, the brunette stood up and gently, but unexpectedly pushed grinning Koki from behind, so that the Rider staggered and fell upon surprised Ryo. His weight made both guys roll away, right into the wet grass in each other´s arms.

“It seems to me that you have your own bed-warmer,” Jane declared and the camp resonated in another common laughter; with even Cullen watching the two amusedly, while Ryo was yelling at howling Koki to get off him.

Jane was aware of the curious look of the second youngest Rider, but she avoided it and added on the fire instead, wondering if there was any chance that the blonde Rider might have discovered a certain secret…

*

It took some time before the campsite calmed down completely, but it did in the end. Jin volunteered for the first watch by himself, and his expression was so morose that nobody even tried to join him.

Everybody was already breathing regularly, robed in their blankets and Cullen and Nick were even snorting a little. The rain completely ceased away, so the flames stopped hissing and beamed in the night with the bright light.

After he polished his revolvers and hid them into their sheaths again, Jin stared into the fire, wondering just how to stop Tanaka from making those stupid jokes. The blonde one´s behavior pissed him off unnecessarily, he knew. He should have ignored it, but he just couldn´t prevent that sparkle of burning anger awakening inside of him every time that jerk behaved as if he wanted to seduce Kame or something…

One of the body shapes, which were lying in the wide circle around him, just at the boundary of light and dark, started moving and shortly after that a slim figure joined Jin at the fire. The older one didn´t have to look to know who that was. Kame hugged his knees, while keeping the blanket over his shoulders and he didn´t say anything.

“It´s not a time for your turn yet,” Jin noted very quietly and placed one thick branch at the edge of the campfire, to let it dry off a little first, before he would add it in the middle of it.

“I know…” the younger one replied.

A few moments passed in silence, with both youngsters watching the flames. None of the other sleepers moved, only Jack murmured something in his sleep.

“Are you upset?” Kazuya whispered finally.

Jin glanced at the younger one shortly. In the flickering fire, Kame´s skin seemed to be even softer then Jin knew it was and his disheveled hair threw sharp shadows over his eyes. And he looked somewhat vulnerable, as he sat there cuddling himself in a ball; a total opposite of that decisive Rider who led them during the robbery right in the center of Leadville.

Suddenly, Jin was reminded of how young Kame was, only twenty-one years; at least that was the last information the younger one told him back in Montana. And he could still deal with all those recent events so composedly, and more wisely than Jin himself. But like everybody else, Kazuya also had a weaker side, a soft spot he didn´t show very often to anyone, including Jin. He didn´t deal well with feeling unsecure about something…

The worried look of those brown eyes tore Jin off that strange line of thoughts. He realized that he didn´t say anything for too long and that probably misled Kame to a wrong conclusion.

“Not with you,” he assured the younger one.

Kazuya sighed and for a short moment, his head turned in the direction, where a certain blonde Rider was sleeping: “He enjoys it only more if you get angry…”

“I realize that, I just can´t help it…” Jin murmured unhappily and looked away. “I´m sorry if… If I´m too grumpy.”

It was not easy to admit aloud that he behaved foolishly, but Jin was not so blinded with own moodiness not to see that Kame was influenced by that hidden conflict as well.

No reaction could be heard from the younger one for so long, that Jin had already started to feel even worse for being so selfish. But then Kame suddenly moved and his warm breath tickled Jin´s cold ear: “It´s all right, I like you even with your grumpy side.”

Jin turned to him smiling: “I´m quite relieved to hear that.”

They kept looking at each other for a while, motionless, neither of them bold enough to cross the line with the rest of the gang around.

“When is your birthday?” Jin spilled what wandered through his mind, just to distract himself.

Kazuya raised one of his neatly shaped eyebrows: “What´s up with this question all of the sudden?”

“I´ve just wondered how old you´re,” Jin shrugged. “You told me you´re twenty-one last year...”

“Well, already twenty-two, actually. I was born in February.”

“In February?” Jin repeated in astonishment. “When we were already back together? Why didn´t you say anything?”

Kazuya patted a finger over Jin´s lips to remind him to keep his voice down and only then he answered whispering: “I didn´t even realize it. There were so many things going on and this wasn´t anything important, so…”

“Not important?” Jin cut in, forcing himself to remain quiet. “No way, we should have celebrated it!”

“Well, we can still celebrate my birthday next year, if there is a chance… Or yours,” Kame proposed smiling softly. “When were you born?”

“In July,” Jin replied slowly with his mind was a little blank, since he was enchanted by a sudden change of the younger one´s expression. That smile suited Kazuya much more than a gloomy face.

“Good, we didn´t miss that one then,” the younger one stated contentedly and before Jin knew it, he placed a tender kiss on his lips. Already that short touch of his finger before stirred something in Jin´s stomach, but Kazuya´s lips were naturally a much bigger deal. “It´s really nice that you care about something like that,” Kame noted, when he pulled away.

Quickly, before the younger one could escape too far, Jin raised his hand and pressed it against the back of Kame´s neck.

“I think it´s only natural,” he whispered, before giving him the kiss back, only a little deeper one, his desire flickering in it. It was almost impossible to resist when Kame´s lips went to meet him, warm and soft and inviting… But he had to. Jin broke away as soon as he felt that he was losing control and soothed Kame´s skin gently, before he let him go.

“Rather go to sleep before I won´t let you,” he said hoarsely and turned towards the fire.

“How thoughtful of you…” Kame appreciated more amusedly than gratefully and slipped away from his reach before Jin could reconsider.

“More like stupid, I should just lean you over some tree…” Jin murmured for himself, but the younger one managed to catch the words.

“We´ll make up for it some other time,” a whispering promise was heard from under the blanket before it went motionless again.

Jin smiled at that: “Sure, we will…”

***

 

After a short run up the stairs, Danny found the door of Mr. Cameron´s office open, so he just walked in, knocking on the door-frame shortly. Math always took the room for himself, every time the quarry´s manager was absent. It was the same that week; with Cameron on the trip to Wyoming, his usually so neatly arranged table got messy with cigarette stubs and sticky rings after many glasses of drinks.

The young errand boy didn´t see the face of his boss first, as his view was covered with the stretched newspapers, showing him only the headlines as “BLACK RIDERS VS. GOVERNOR: I will make them pay, Tabor says” or “MORE CLASHES WITH SIOUX: Ten soldiers´ lives lost” and also “INFLUENZA OUTBREAK in Hereford reaches its climax”. Just a thin strip of smoke, which was rising from behind the rim of the paper, let him know that his superior was sitting there.

“Chief, we have…” Danny started only to be interrupted by a lazy, hoarse voice from behind the newspapers.

“What do you think about it, Danny?”

“About what, Chief?” he asked, recognizing that self-absorbed tone, which meant that at that moment, Math Grenet wouldn´t listen to anyone except himself.

“About the Riders´ intentions…” the temporary quarry leader put the papers down on the dirty table and pulled a half-burnt cigarette out from his smirking mouth. “After this, just where do they want to go now, huh?” Math Grenet pressed the glowing tip to some line in the article, which he had been reading so far. Danny felt the creeps on his back, when the man precisely burnt out two words from it.

“I don´t know, Chief,” he said just for the purpose of reacting somehow, though he was sure that Math didn´t want his opinion. The news about that robbery spread like a wildfire, considering it happened just two days ago. The Lieutenant Governor obviously splashed out with his funds to raise the ruckus in all big newspapers publishing companies.

“Stealing so much money directly from Tabor was a risky move,” just as Danny expected, Math kept talking more for himself than towards him. “They hadn´t done something like this so far… They needed money and they needed them quickly, but for what a reason?” Grenet put the cigarette back between his lips and swung in the chair.

Danny frowned. Ever since Math came back from not a very successful trip to one of the Leadville´s mines, he was obsessed with those Riders and nothing except many shots of quality alcohol combined with fucking could distract his attention to another direction. Danny even heard some arguments between him and Cameron, since the gunslinger wanted to set off searching for them on his own, but the manager insisted on him keeping a low profile, since so many soldiers were roaming around because of those Sioux issues.

Danny couldn´t even remember just how many times he ended up serving as a mere way for releasing Math´s anger and frustration, either in his bed, or leant over the table or even over the wall of the tool shed. He clenched his hands into fists to stop them from shaking, which took over him when he remembered that. It was awfully hard to give up on even the rest of his dignity, but there was no way out for him anymore…

“Our guards caught an Indian spy on the hill above the quarry, Chief,” he announced loudly to get the man´s attention.

“What?” Math Grenet finally looked at him. “Why didn´t you say so right away?” he doused the rest of the cigarette in the glass of weathered beer.

“I tried to…” Danny sighed a little.

“Where is he?” Math snapped, as he got up and reached for his gun belt.

“They´re just bringing him, downstairs,” he replied, already tired of being ignored.

“Fine. He better be a talkative one, I´m sick of those stupid red skins already.”

That was no wonder… They had many incidents with the Indians recently. Sioux ambushed their deliveries a few times, but so far they didn´t dare to get close to the quarry itself, as it was well-guarded. But Danny was not surprised that one of them appeared in the end, since the place was built up on their territory. It was one of the things, which kept Math in the quarry all the time and his mood quite bad.

Grenet stomped out of the office, with Danny following him down the stairs not very happily.

*

The Indian spy was very young and very skinny, but he made up for his figure by hot-blooded pugnacity. It took three men to hold him down on his knees, when Grenet wanted to kick into his stomach.

“Where is the rest of your annoying red friends?” the gunman repeated his question coldly.

After the Indian gathered some breath, the flood of probably very abusive words in Sioux language was the only response to the interrogation, just as before. Grenet spat at the floor.

“Little shit… Tie him up and lock in the cellar. We´ll leave him there till tomorrow, without any water. He will cool down then…”

Once the guards with the still resisting Indian were gone, Math turned to Danny, who watched the ugly scene from the corner.

“Tell Horst that there´s no need to strengthen the guards, but I want to them to be more cautious.”

“Yes, Chief,” Danny nodded.

“Then call Marty for me, I want him to arrange a constant watch in the city,” Grenet added, already pulling a pack of cigarettes out from his pocket.

“A watch? Why?” Danny asked confused.

“Don´t ask me stupid questions, kid,” his superior hissed. “If they go this way, I won´t let them pass just like that…”

“You mean the Riders?” he figured. “But Mr. Cameron said that we shouldn´t…”

“Fuck Cameron! I´m in charge here now!” Math snapped, making Danny forget any objections.

“Yes, sir… Should I participate too?”

“Later. Now deal with those errands and then grab some bottle and dinner for me in the kitchen. Got it?”

Danny gulped down: “But… But I was supposed to have a day off since this evening. I wanted to…”

Grenet crossed the space between them and grabbed his chin into two fingers: “Are you defying my order, Danny?” he asked with a dangerous shine in his eyes.

“No, sir…” he replied a little shakily, feeling the shivers again, just under that touch.

“Good. Then move it, I don´t want to wait for you the whole evening.”

***

 

Echoes of hammer´s hits over the anvil resonated in the front yard and continued further into the streets of Denver outskirts. The blacksmith´s children were playing hide and seek around the house, while their father kept working at the forge. And a faint fragrance of some lunch being prepared by Mrs. Emerson was leaking from the half-open window. It was a calm picture from the day of one family. But there was something more hidden under it. As the completely full stalls with the still saddled horses and a group of gunmen, waiting quietly in the room that usually served as the dining space.

Suddenly, the hits stopped, as well as the childish shouts. The front door opened with a quiet shriek and all men in the room reached for their guns at that sound. Someone´s heavy steps stomped across the corridor and another door got opened quite vigorously. A blonde youngster froze at the doorstep, when he found himself being targeted by four revolvers.

“Hey, hey! Take it easy, guys! It´s us!” Koki yelled alarmed.

“You didn´t knock how we agreed to,” Cullen growled, slowly pushing the weapon back to its sheath, as well as Leo and Jin, who were waiting in the room with him and Jack, who straightened up from a crouched position next to the entrance with a sigh of relief.

The blonde Rider entered with a not very regretful expression: “It´s was too complicated,” he snorted and put two obviously heavy sacs at the table.

“I remembered it, but he walked in sooner than I could stop him, sorry,” a voice of another person going in was heard in the corridor and right after that Ryo appeared, with Jane behind his back. The three of them went shopping, to gather some missing supplies for the trip to Hereford.

Koki rolled his eyes: “All right, I´m sorry!” he said, though it didn´t sound much apologetically. “You´re somehow too nervous, don´t you think?” he noted as he pulled a thick bottle from one of the bags and threw himself into the first free chair.

Leo frowned at him: “For a very good reason, Koki,” he stated coldly and then he snatched the bottle from the other one´s fingers sooner than he could drink from it. “I said no alcohol until we´re out of the city.”

The blonde one made a disappointed grimace and crossed arms across his chest.

“What about Kame and Nick?” Jin asked. “Did you see them somewhere nearby?”

“Yes, they´re coming back already too,” Jane announced. “They´re just waiting on the corner for a bit, so that we don´t go in here all at once.”

“Good,” Leo nodded. “Emerson is anxious enough already…”

“I´ve noticed,” Ryo said, looking out of the window. “He almost hit his thumb, when I came to tell him we´re back.”

“You can´t blame him,” the brunette reminded. “He fears for his family. If anyone would know that we´re here…”

“Stop inventing troubles, dear,” Cullen, who seemed to be even more sullen than usually, cut in. “We´ll be gone sooner that it comes to that.”

“They´re here,” Ryo announced the arrival of the last two gang members, who also had their task in Denver. Everybody remained on their spots waiting patiently, only Jin leant down to check the front yard, as if he didn´t believe what Ryo said.

The older Akanishi didn´t like to remain hidden along with his brother, while the others went out, but they agreed that for the moment it would be risky even for him to show his face around, since they were so much alike.

Nick and Kame came inside the room with serious faces and just as the first group they also carried some small bags, only much lighter. Except gathering the newest issues of newspapers, the two visited Nick´s friend – a local doctor, who once saved his life. The Riders gathered around the table to hear out what they had found out.

“The situation seems to be even worse than we thought,” Nick started talking in quite a pessimistic manner. “My doc is in contact with his acquaintance in Hereford only thanks to telegraph. The city has been completely closed down. The denizens in the close surroundings were afraid that the infection might spread, so they called the Army for help, which is in the control of the situation now. They do not allow any carriage to go out or even in. So, they are without necessary medical supplies…”

“They just let them die over there?” Jack jumped up from his chair. “Aren´t they supposed to help them?!”

“The official statement is that the situation is under control and they´re just waiting for the outbreak to pass…” the older man replied gloomily.

“How convenient for those who aren´t there…” Cullen noted in a dark tone.

Jane was just sitting there quietly, staring at the table, but she was pressing her hands in her lap so hard against each other they were shaking.

“Did you find out what should we bring in to help them?” Leo asked.

Nick nodded: “Yeah, but… Kame, can you please explain it?” he turned to the younger one, who was standing next to Jin behind Jane´s chair. “I´m not sure if I got it right…”

“There´s no real treatment against influenza,” Kamenashi started slowly. “Only some of the symptoms can be suppressed - mostly by quinine or willow bark. There´s no guarantee they will help, but they reduce the fever. The doctor said that his colleague is already almost out of these medicaments. We bought some from him, but he couldn´t give us much…” he finished not very positively as he placed two small bags and two thick dark glasses with liquid on the table.

“Where do we get more then?” Ryo wondered.

“He recommended us to stop by in Fort Collins,” Nick took the word again. “The local physician should have more than enough of both, he said. He wanted to send the delivery to Hereford, but it was returned unopened.”

“Fort Collins…” Jin repeated slowly and glanced at Kame. Now he knew what caused that troubled look in his eyes.

“Good, I was planning for us to go through there anyway,” Leo reacted. “That will be no detour for us, just…” the Riders´ leader looked at the blonde one. “Isn´t it close to that quarry you told us about?”

Koki stretched his arms above his head: “It is, why?” he didn´t seem to be much worried about it.

“It´s the city where I came across Grenet on my way down here,” Kame said in a somewhat stiff tone. “And I´m not very eager to repeat it.”

Leo looked at Kame carefully now, then at Jin and back to the younger one: “But isn´t he on the wanted list as well? He cannot show himself around much, right?”

“That´s true, but…” Kame hesitated.

“That bastard always means troubles and I suppose we all want to avoid them, don´t we?” Jin finished the thought instead of the younger one.

“That´s right,” Leo agreed thoughtfully.

“Since when you´re such wimps? We´ll just grab the medicaments and be on our way,” Cullen joined the discussion sharply. “If he´s in charge of the quarry, it´s highly unlikely he would notice you or our blonde clown during such a short time.”

“Or me,” Jin added darkly. “He knows me as well…”

“And what? It could also be that _we_ will notice _him_...” Koki leant forward with a quite ugly grin. “I couldn´t be happier than to have an opportunity to pay him back…”

“For once I agree with you. We´re surely more than able to kick his sorry ass,” Ryo agreed willingly.

Kame didn´t object anything, but Jin could see he still didn´t like it. Well, if he was honest to himself, if he would spot that bastard´s face somewhere, he would be more than pleased to shoot his head off somewhere to the Moon as well.

“We will be solving this when, if ever, it comes to that,” Leo closed the topic. “Anything else?”

“We´re in the news again, of course,” Nick reacted, while he pulled the papers out of his bag.

“That was fast…” Jack murmured.

“Not really, I expected that,” Leo denied. “I suppose that the editors would rather avoid pissing the Governor even more than he is.”

“That´s right,” Cullen agreed. “I guess they had started typing as soon as the telegrams got to them.”

“They always hop around him like puppets,” Koki snorted disgusted, noticing the huge pitch black headline.

“Anyway, we need to move quickly,” Leo said, after he just glanced at the newspapers without any big interest. “The less time we spend at one place, the smaller chance for us to be spotted by someone too observing. Anything else interesting apart from that?”

“Yes, there´s one more thing we should consider…” Kame pointed at one article spread all over two pages. “A quite serious conflict arose between the Sioux Indians and the Army. If we travel as planned, after Fort Collins we´ll be going right through a war zone.”

Leo nodded: “That´s a good point, we´ll need to be very careful about that.”

“Yeah, it would suck to get in the middle of this…” Cullen growled, looking at the article as if it was something poisonous.

Then Leo rose from his chair: “All right, gather out stuff, we´ll set off in three groups, to make the fuss as small as possible. I will say thank you to Emerson for everyone. So, Ryo, Koki, Jack - you three go first, we´ll follow. Let´s meet up on the north crossroads, we´ll continue together from up there.”

*

Jin, Kame and Jane were in the last group leaving the stables behind the smithy and since the brunette went outside first, Jin used that moment to grab Kame´s elbow, when the younger one led his mare around him.

“It will be fine, Kame…”

“How can you know that?” the other one reacted quietly.

“Because we´re going together this time,” Jin replied with conviction. “And I won´t let you out of my sight,” he added calculatedly.

A faint smile brightened the handsome face a little: “Not even when I take a piss?” Kame asked.

“Not even then,” Jin confirmed and pulled Kazuya closer for a kiss. It was sweet and a calming one and Kame happily gave in to the sensation it brought him…

“Guys! What takes you so long?”

They tore away each other in the last second, before Jane peeked into the stables and stared at them for a while, the corners of her mouth twitching in a suppressed smile.

“Stop distracting each other and let´s go,” she mocked them and disappeared back outside, before they could say something.

***

 

The road between Denver and Fort Collins was heavily used, but also well-maintained. Travelling on it was comfortable and quick. The Riders continued towards the north in two groups, not to raise much of unnecessary attention from other travelers. They were proceeding fast, but even though they had to stop for at least a few hours for the night.

During their ride Jane´s suspicion about Koki was only getting stronger. Seeing his friendly chit chat with Kame, while Jin at the end of their group was watching them cheerlessly from behind and then noticing the blonde one´s mocking smile, as he placed his arm around the younger one´s shoulders, when they stopped to water the horses…

By the time they left the main road to make a temporary camp further from it, Jane was already certain and she just waited for her opportunity…

*

Quite relieved Koki was going back from the hidden spot behind some bushes, looking forward to the dinner, as their handsome cook promised to make his special potato mash. But suddenly a figure with long hair appeared in his way and pushed him back to the dark roughly.

“Jane! What are you doing?” the blonde Rider asked surprised, when he recognized the brunette´s face in the waning light.

“Just stop it, Koki,” she demanded and shoved him again, rather strongly, to emphasize her words. He staggered and had to find his balance grabbing on the subtle tree. “Don´t you see it´s already hard enough for them?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don´t play the stupid act with me. I know you _know_ ,” the brunette poked a finger into his chest. “So stop being an ass for once.”

The blond Rider stared at her wide-eyed: “I still don´t…”

“You know about Kame and Jin!” Jane interrupted him harshly, but lowering her voice.

Koki´s jaw dropped: “I… But… how the hell do _you know_?”

“It doesn´t matter. The point is that you should just leave them alone.”

The blonde one grinned, suddenly quite amused, once he knew what was going on: “Maybe they should just tell everyone, if the things continue like this…”

“Koki,” Jane approached even closer with a dangerous look in her eyes. “This is their privacy and we have no right to tinker with it.”

“It´s not like they cover it up very well, everybody will find out in the end,” the blonde one objected.

“You can see it once you know about them, yes,” Jane admitted. “But otherwise, they´re quite good in keeping it secret. If they want to tell us, they will do it, but we…”

“Fine, fine, I get it!” Koki rolled his eyes. “But it´s fun, so why should I…”

“Maybe for you, but it´s definitely not funny for them. Try being a little empathetic, will you?”

“Hmm, I think that you sympathize with them too much,” Koki murmured, not giving up completely yet.

Jane face-palmed herself: “Sometimes, you´re really hopeless…”

“Hey! It´s their fault they don´t trust us! They wouldn´t have to act in front of us at all!”

“Are you really so sure about that?” the brunette asked him quietly.

“Well…” he hesitated. It was true that probably not everybody would be so understanding…

“See? Just don´t provoke any unnecessary conflicts and behave normally.”

“Ok…” he sighed in agreement.

“Good boy,” Jane praised him and turned back towards the camp.

“But I do behave normally,” Koki murmured indignantly, when he was sure that Jane couldn´t hear him.

***

 

The cloudy sky didn´t seem to influence the usual afternoon rush. The streets of Fort Collins were busy as usually, with pitchmen extolling their goods on the square and with many carts going in both directions, their teamsters yelling at running kids and dogs. But in all that rush, there was one man who was obviously bored. He was sitting on the veranda of one of many saloons on the main street, reading the same newspapers for the sixth time and glancing at the busy street from time to time.

“How is it going, Marty?”

The gunman flinched upon hearing the voice, but once he made sure it was just a skinny boy with fair hair, he looked almost relieved then.

“It´s damn boring, that´s how it´s going,” he snorted.

“Nobody suspicious then?” Danny leant over the pillar, looking at the street full of horses, people and noise.

“Come on! This is just bullshit!” Marty slapped with the newspapers over the floor. “A group of gunmen, four, six or more, who try to behave inconspicuously while passing by the city? That´s too damn general description!”

The youngster looked at him: “You don´t want piss Grenet off, do you?” he asked quietly.

“Of course not,” he murmured, but didn´t want to give up on his complaints yet. “But how do you wanna spot a group like that in this mess!”

Danny shrugged and focused on the avalanche of people again: “You have your orders, so just follow them…”

“Oh, sure, I will. But even if they do go right through this street, I´d probably miss them anyway…” Marty assumed and then he noticed, that the boy was staring wide-eyed somewhere, not listening to him at all. “What? What are you looking at?”

“Over there…” Danny almost whispered. “Near the barber´s place…”

Marty followed the direction of his look and stiffened. Five riders were just passing around the public baths. They were pushed close to each other by the crowd, their faces covered with mostly black hats. And just a few meters behind them, Marty spotted four more riders, including one quite pretty woman, as they were trying to move forward the busy street in the same direction.

“I´ll be damned…” the gunman forgot his previous boredom within a second. “You think it´s them?”

“I don´t think… I know it,” the boy replied quietly, and not very happily.

Once again, just as many weeks ago, Danny recognized the white mare and her master. And this time, he could add an impressive black stallion to the list as well…

*

Shortly after the lunch time, they arrived to the crowded Fort Collins.

Kame tried to remain calm and not to be so pessimistic all the time, but he just couldn´t help to check on the faces of people they passed, subconsciously expecting that grinning face to appear out of nowhere. He couldn´t explain why he was so restless about it even to himself. Leo and Cullen were right that Grenet was probably hidden somewhere to avoid being ferreted by the Marshals…

After they finally managed to get through the busy main street, fortunately without any incident, they gathered in front of a small saloon in the outskirts, which was not far from the clinic of the doctor, who was supposed to have enough medicaments. This time, Jane and Nick were sent to deal with the purchase, chosen as the most trustworthy combination, while the rest of them headed to the taproom for some food, awaiting their return.

Cullen proposed that they could spend at least a few hours in the city, to let their horses rest a little, as well as themselves, before setting off to the more difficult part of their journey, as the roads further to the north and east were not so accessible. Leo agreed with it and since the landlady even offered them a quiet room along with the first round of beers, they accepted it gladly. Jack and Cullen used the opportunity right away, while Ryo and Koki ordered another round of beer in advance and Leo started to study their Colorado maps to figure out the best way to continue.

Not that Kame wouldn´t want to let his back and legs rest for a while, but he was still anxious to get out of the city as soon as possible. Sitting in the corner, he was staring at the surface of his beer rather gloomily, when he felt a slight kick under the table and looked up. Jin winked at him and got up.

“Madame, do you also have some free space in the stables? We could move our horses there…” the older Akanishi approached the lady behind the bar.

“Sure,” the sturdy woman nodded. “Not many guests in these days. Drag them back, my boy will take care of them later.”

“Thank you, Madame,” Jin smiled, he turned back to them and even before he opened his mouth, Kame was already on his feet as well.

“I´ll help you… Koki, you can drink the rest of it, if you want,” he offered the blonde one, pointing at the tankard.

“Thanks, handsome!” the thirsty Rider didn´t let the chance slip and was on it right away.

“Do you want some help?” Ryo asked, but Kame just shook his head.

“It´s all right, we´ve got this,” he refused and followed Jin out of the door.

*

The stables behind the saloon were not particularly big, but the Riders´ horses fit in there well, which was definitely better than letting them to be exposed to curious eyes in front of the main entrance.

There was also a spacious barn, connected with the stalls, which was filled with a strong smell of hay stored in its attic. A long ladder led up there, old and creaky, but still strong enough to hold the height of two young men, when they climbed up hastily…

 

“I can´t believe you dragged me up here,” the younger of the two breathed out heavily, once his mouth was finally free to speak.

“It didn´t seem to me that you were forced… You climbed that ladder all alone quite voluntarily,” the older one teased him.

Kame couldn´t help but chuckle in amusement. It was as if all worries flew out of his head to somewhere else, when he was with Jin, just like that, alone, in his arms. No matter that the older one was hovering above him, pressing Kame down into the soft and prickly pile with quite a… needy shine in his eyes.

“I wonder what you find so funny about this spot,” Jin commented, squeezing Kame´s wrists in his hold.

“Not funny, just… unusual,” the younger one replied, still with a smile playing on his lips.

Jin kept looking at him for a while, suddenly somehow thoughtful.

“Name me one _usual_ place where we´ve made out so far,” he challenged Kame.

The younger one didn´t expect that and after a moment he realized that there was basically nothing he could reply to that.

“See?” Jin leant down to him again with a victorious smile and attached himself to Kame´s lips.

Kazuya sighed and eagerly went to meet him, savoring on the wet touch of Jin´s tongue. He felt the strong hands sliding down his arms to shoulders, then across his chest until they both managed to slip under Kame´s shirt and soothe his skin under it in the opposite direction.

The younger one used the opportunity of his hands being free, pressed against Jin´s shoulders and moving with his whole body, he rolled Jin over to his back, ending up sitting on his lap.

“Who said anything about making out?” he asked mockingly.

“You. Right now,” the other one replied immediately.

“Clever answer,” Kame admitted, tapping his fingers close to Jin´s collar bones gently. “But… They´ll be looking for us, if we´re away for too long…”

As expected, Jin put on quite an annoyed expression: “They have a beer to enjoy themselves,” he leant on his elbows to get himself higher, but Kame backed off.

Jin smirked, grabbed the younger one´s slim thighs and pulled himself up to sit, immediately capturing Kame in his hug again, as he circled his arms around Kame´s waist.

“All those days, running around, robbing safes, riding during the nights, watching that blonde idiot touching you… I want you for myself, damn it…” Jin finished his speech whispering and he placed a soft kiss on Kame´s neck.

The younger one shivered and buried his hands into the thick black hair.

“But you have me, silly. Always…” Kame pushed the other´s head back a little and leant down to kiss him this time. When he pulled away, Jin already had his hands under his shirt again, his fingers observing the skin of his back spot by spot.

Suddenly, someone´s steps were heard on the boards of the floor under them and Kame stiffened, listening to the sounds closely. Some tool made a noise as if being pulled out of somewhere. It was probably a stable man… Then he flinched, when he felt the greedy hands grabbing his butt.

“Don´t think I´ll let you go now,” Jin announced him hoarsely.

Kame tried to hush him, but Jin ignored it and pulled him even closer, and the younger one lost his breath for a while, when their crotches brushed over each other. Slowly, Jin dragged him down again, pulling Kame on the top of his body. The straw under them made a soft noise, as they lied down, and Kame tensely listened to the steps, which he still heard down there.

Jin, using his distraction, rolled the younger one over again and locked his lips with a heated kiss, while his left hand already searched for the bucket of the other´s trousers. Kame made a muffled sound of protest, but the older one continued purposefully, exploring deep inside his mouth. It felt so sweet, that Kame couldn´t help but shift against the other´s body, impatiently waiting for more touches.

Another sharp sound and someone´s swearing made Kame freeze, while Jin managed to slip under his trousers and made for his warming member. Kame pressed a hand against his mouth, when Jin soothed him down there. Jin absolutely ignored the fact someone was moving in the barn right under them and teased him again with the little fires in his dark eyes.

Kame´s breath got stuck in his throat for a while, as he almost choked on the excited sigh. He reached up and pulling himself up, he attached to the smiling lips, throwing one of his legs over Jin´s at the same time. Somehow, he managed to change their positions again, slipping away from Jin´s teasing. He pressed Jin into the hay pile this time, rather harshly and with a shortened breath, Kame kept looking to his eyes for a while. The steps finally headed out of the barn and gradually, the sound of them ceased completely.

Kame leant down then, closer to that burning look: “ _Now_ we can make out…” he said, as he rolled Jin´s shirt out of the way.

*

Jin´s eyes widened, when he realized that Kame didn´t stop with kissing his neck and nipples and stomach and went even lower, after pulling his trousers down in a torturing, slow move. And then those slim fingers finally touched his hard member, and a hot breath tickled it and that first lick made Jin almost moan aloud over how hot it felt.

That sensation was too overwhelming to think about any protests or proposals for something else. Jin was only able to bury his hands into the soft hair in his lap and close his eyes.

*

“That was… Damn…” Jin uttered once he controlled his fastened breathing again.

Kame, so far lying next to him, smiled and sat up suddenly.

“Come once you calm down,” he grinned at Jin and rushed through the hay to the ladder, leaving Jin behind to gather his senses.

It took some time before the older one finally managed to button his trousers and started to climb down as well. He found Kame under the ladder, smiling at him cheerfully.

“You…” Jin jumped down from the last partition and frowned at the younger one. “I was not done with you and you run off like that,” he complained, but he wasn´t really offended. On the opposite, he felt light and happy.

“I wouldn´t be able to get you down here otherwise,” Kame explained apologetically. “Sorry, Jin, but… We really should go back…” he added sighing a little, as he leant towards Jin and pulled some straws from his hair.

“Thanks, but I won´t do this for you,” Jin grinned. “You look too adorable with them in your hair…”

“Damn, where it is?” Kame started to search through his hair to get the dry straws out of it.

“Everywhere…” Jin reacted and grabbed Kame´s elbow.

Before the younger one could react, he pulled him close and captured his lips in a purposefully demanding kiss, to give him at least some kind of punishment for running off. And it worked just as Jin wanted, since Kazuya stiffened and then quickly gave in, sighing into the kiss.

Jin let him circle his slim arms around his neck and then suddenly pulled away: “You could have that if you didn´t run away,” he announced to his surprised face.

Kame was repaying Jin´s amused look for a while, before he just chuckled. Then they slowly turned towards the barn´s exit. And then, still half-hugging each other, they both froze on the spot. Somebody was standing there, staring at them wide-eyed. And it was Leo.

 


	36. Expose

**F** or a few long seconds, nobody moved. Leo seemed to be too shocked to even say anything and as for Jin and Kame, the encounter with him was too sudden to somehow react right away.

Then Jin´s hand slid down from the younger one´s back slowly and clenched into a fist. Kame was trying to recognize the younger Akanishi´s expression anxiously, but it was almost impossible. Leo´s face was hardly recognizable in the shadow created by the bright daylight behind his back.

“Leo… I can explain…” Jin spoke in a somewhat restrained tone, breaking the heavy silence. But he didn´t get a chance to continue, since his younger brother just turned on his heel and walked away without a single word.

Kame turned to Jin, hesitating what to say: “I´m sorry…” he managed to get through his constricted throat. “I didn´t notice him at all…”

The older one stared at the empty exit for a while, before he looked at Kame. His eyes were strangely unmoving and the younger one had a feeling that Jin didn´t even hear what he had said.

He took a determined breath: “Jin, I can…”

“No… Just no,” the older one cut in, shaking his head. He was gathering his thoughts only slowly, but he sounded quite decisive. “It´s… all right. Leave my brother to me,” Jin stated and then hurried after Leo.

Kame just stood there, under that unfortunate ladder, feeling helpless.

Even though Jin wasn´t very eager to reveal their relationship to the others, Kame was quite sure they would have done it, eventually. But not like this… Not being caught by his brother as some horny teenagers. There was basically no solid reason for it, but Kame was really worried about how Leo would react to such a discovery.

When he finally made his feet move forward, they led him back to the stalls, to the stable from which his dear mare was looking out for him already; as if Ukushi knew that her master would come to her, seeking some composure. Her silent presence helped Kame calm down a bit, but it didn´t take long before his ears caught two quite loud voices from the outside…

*

Jin thought that his brother went right back to the saloon, so he set off across the back yard in fast pace. But then he stopped so abruptly that his boots almost slipped in a muddy puddle. Leo was still outside. His younger brother was sitting on the wooden block for chopping behind a small tool shed, and he was smoking.

The older Akanishi took a deep breath and made a few steps back, approaching him slowly. Leo didn´t pay him any attention, not even when his brother stood right in front of him.

“Just listen to me, Leo, all right?” Jin started carefully. “What you saw… I didn´t want to tell you about it, because… You know… Me and Kame…” he really wanted to say it so that Leo would understand, but somehow he felt absolutely lost trying to finding correct words.

His younger brother suddenly chuckled, in a quite mocking manner: “Hey, it´s ok, Brother,” Leo stated somewhat too lightly and took a deep draw from the cigarette. “We all have our flings from time to time, right?”

“What? No, it´s not…” Jin tried to explain the situation again, but his brother didn´t let him.

“Look, it´s true that I´d have expected to catch you with some chick instead, but when you have to, you have to…” Leo threw only a half-smoked butt away and pressed it to the ground with the tip of his boot, before he got up. “No need to be ashamed, Bro,” he grinned, but it seemed to be forced. “Everybody can see that Kame is almost as pretty as a girl, right?”

“Well… I…” Jin stared at his brother, slowly comprehending what the other one meant by that statement.

“It´s your privacy. What happened, happened,” Leo shrugged. “I´ll forget that I ever saw something and we´ll never talk about it again. Problem solved, huh?”

The younger Akanishi patted his brother´s shoulder and turned to leave.

“But I don´t want you to forget it,” finally, Jin found a breath to speak, mostly thanks to the fact that he was starting to be quite upset.

Leo stopped and then turned back towards him slowly: “What´s your point?”

“Kame is not just a _fling_ to me,” Jin stated firmly, determined not to stop until Leo would realize what was actually going on between him and Kame. When he had found out about them now, he deserved the truth, not some cover stories.

“Ah, I get it…” his brother nodded with a strange smile. “You couldn´t help it and now you realize you´ve made a mistake. Cool down, Jin. Anyone can make one sometimes…”

“NO!” Jin raised his voice, already really pissed that Leo was turning everything upside down. “Kazuya is neither my mistake nor my fling, not anything like that!”

That awful smirk finally disappeared from Leo´s face: “What do you mean by that? That he´s your… boyfriend or what?” he asked rather scornfully.

“Yes, that´s exactly what I mean!” Jin snapped to make the things clear to his stupid little brother. “We don´t do this to beat boredom; we´ve been together for months!”

Leo stared at him for a while, before he spoke again stiffly: “You´re not serious.”

“Absolutely,” Jin opposed.

His brother approached closer to him again, looking into his face closely: “Are you trying to tell me that you have some kind of serious relationship with Kamenashi?”

“And what if I had?” the older one reacted huffily. “Ever since we had met in Bozeman!”

Now, it was Leo, who took a deep breath: “Wow… That´s quite a long time,” he evaluated in a sarcastic tone.

“It is!” Jin confirmed harshly. “So, stop trying to make this look like some stupid affair.”

“I don´t get it!” Leo burst out finally. “Especially you, who had always dreamt about having a normal family, you declare _this_?!”

That caught Jin unprepared and he remained speechless, while furious Leo continued.

“You kept saying that once you have a family, you would never be like our father! That once you have children, you never let them experience the fear we did! You used to talk about this so often that it was annoying!”

Jin frowned: “What does this have to do with me and Kame?” he asked darkly.

“What? You ask me _what_? You don´t have that dream anymore?!”

The older one was repaying Leo´s burning look for a while, before he admitted: “I do, but still…”

“Then how are you going to fulfil it with _him_ , damn it?” Leo snapped. “Is Kamenashi just a woman in disguise or what?”

Jin didn´t like his brother´s tone at all, but he couldn´t find a proper argument at once: “I didn´t think about it that way…”

“Obviously!” Leo snorted. “Is he so good in bed that he makes you stop thinking altogether?”

“Stop talking about him like that!” Jin lashed out. “You know nothing about us!”

“At least I know that some long-term relation of two men is bullshit!”

Jin gritted his teeth, trying to keep his anger under control. After everything what he and Kazuya had been through, he was not going to put up with prejudices from anyone, the least from his younger brother.

“Shut up, Leo, otherwise… whether you´re my brother, or not, I will make you,” Jin stated in a quiet, but more threatening voice. “You cannot understand…”

“No, of course I cannot!” Leo interrupted him once again. “I can´t watch my brother ruining his life!” he exclaimed rather desperately, shoving into the older one.

“I´m pretty sure that I can do with my life whatever I want,” Jin reacted, not moving even an inch away.

Leo stiffened and his expression changed slowly.

“Sure, you can…” he admitted, suddenly quietly. “And here are your actual choices – if you want to continue with us to Hereford, your little romance, or whatever it is, ends right here, right now.”

“You command me to break up with Kame?” Jin asked incredulously.

“Exactly. I won´t accept it either as your brother, or as the leader of Black Riders. Is that clear enough?”

That was just too much for Jin to chew on… He was angry and disappointed about Leo´s blinded attitude. And he knew how to decide right away, not thinking about it even for a second or about any consequences.

“Crystal clear, Leo,” he reacted coldly.

“So?”

“It seems that our ways part in this city,” Jin said in a stiff tone.

The younger Akanishi was looking to his eyes for a long while, as if he was searching for some sign of hesitation, which he didn´t find.

“I see…” Leo backed off and turned away from his older brother. “Your choice,” he murmured over his shoulder and disappeared in the back entrance of the saloon´s building.

Jin´s chest was raising with heavy breaths and he just couldn´t release the clenched fists, even though he wanted to. He had imagined a few options of Leo´s reaction on his relationship with Kame, from shock to anger, but he would have never thought that his brother would want them to break up right away. That was an outcome he was not willing to accept.

“That didn´t go so well…” a sad voice behind him said, making Jin turn.

“Kazu... You´ve been listening?” he figured out quickly, as Kame looked quite miserable.

“To a part of it,” the younger one admitted. “It´s was quite hard to ignore you two.”

 _Damn…_ Jin frowned. There were things which his handsome boyfriend really didn´t need to hear.

“Don´t bother with what he said,” he emphasized. “Leo doesn´t understand what…”

But Kame interrupted him softly: “I get it, Jin. It was probably quite a shock to him. What could we expect?”

“Well… I didn´t expect _this_ ,” the older one murmured.

*

Kame was observing his lover´s glum face with uneasiness in his heart, which he was trying hard to cover up. The older one told him not to bother with Leo´s words, but that was not so easy.

So, Jin would like to be a father… They had never talked about something like that, naturally, there was no reason to, but still… Leo was right about that one – they already were a strange couple and they could never be a proper family.

“Kame, do _not_ worry about it, all right?” Jin repeated, probably noticing something in Kame´s expression what he didn´t like.

 _How can I not worry about your happiness?_ Kame sighed in his mind, before speaking aloud: “Maybe we should apologize…”

“No way!” angry Jin was back right away. “After everything he´s just said?!”

“It´s worth trying,” Kame insisted. Leo was the only family Jin had left and it mattered to him a lot. It would be terrible if they parted like this.

The older one huffed: “Do as you wish, but I´m not going after him now. I think I need some air…” Jin turned and walked away, towards the river behind the barn.

Kame sighed and with a heavy heart, he followed Leo´s track back inside the saloon.

*

“That was quick,” Ryo welcomed Nick and Jane, as they joined them at the half-empty table in the corner of the taproom. “How did it go?”

Nick placed an obviously full bag in front of Koki, who was patting his full stomach satisfied, while the brunette replied smiling: “We´ve got it. That doctor was very helpful; he gave us a good price.”

“Only after you blinked your eyelashes at him a couple of times,” the older Rider noted amusedly. “But it served its purpose. We have enough of those medicaments, I dare to say.”

“Great, just in time,” their leader´s voice was heard behind them, but there was not even a trace of joy in it. “Ryo, fetch Cullen and Jack from upstairs. All of you grab our stuff, we´re leaving. I´ll settle the bill,” Leo announced strictly, took his hat from the hook on the wall and headed to the bar counter, while everybody watched him speechless.

They were all still sitting or standing there, even after Leo paid to the lady innkeeper and returned to them.

“You didn´t hear me, or what?” he asked with a rather scary expression.

“But what about our rest?” Koki dared to object. “You agreed that…”

“There´s plenty hours of daylight left yet and we have no time to waste,” Leo snapped. “Stop whining, Koki and let´s go. And get also my horse from the stables.”

And with that, the Riders´ leader left the taproom to wait for them outside.

Jane turned to the sitting youngsters: “What happened while we were gone?” she asked.

Koki shrugged, just as incomprehensive as the others.

“I have no idea what got into him,” Ryo stated as he got up. “But I´m not gonna argue with him in this mood,” he assumed wisely, and then rushed up the stairs to get Cullen and Jack.

*

When Kame entered the taproom, Cullen and Ryo were just leaving through the main entrance. Through the windows, he could also see that Leo, Jane and Nick were outside. He rushed along the bar counter and stopped only at the veranda.

As the stalls were easier to access from the street, both Jack and Koki were leading four horses to the waiting Riders from there, since Jane´s and Nick´s were already waiting in front of the saloon. All of them were preparing for departure, although with quite confused faces.

“There you´re!” Ryo exclaimed, as soon as he spotted Kame standing there. “Where´s Jin?”

Kame ignored the question and hurried to Leo, who had already managed to get himself up into the saddle.

“Leo, please, can you just hear me out?” he stood in front of his horse with a pleading question.

The dark eyes pierced him coldly: “If there´s anyone I want to talk with even less than with my brother, it´s _you_ ,” Leo hissed.

That made everybody else more surprised than they had been so far. Cullen, seeming to be still half asleep, glanced from one to another suspiciously. Koki, who was the least willing to leave, was observing them with a frowning expression, while Jack, Nick and Ryo were totally confused. Jane was the most cautious one of all, trying to figure out what happened.

“Leo, just…” Kame tried again. “We wanted to tell…”

“As I said!” the Riders´ leader interrupted him impatiently. “I don´t want to talk with you!”

The second man in command approached them soberly: “What happened, Leo? Why are you so mad?” Cullen asked seriously. But not even his calm attitude was of any help.

“I won´t discuss that right now, and that´s it!”

“But I won´t go until I know, why are you like this,” Koki spoke too, clenching the reins of his horse.

Leo gritted his teeth: “Fine!” he snapped, completely out of his usual reasonable self. “You can just stay here with those liars then!”

*

Jane kept her restless stallion on a short leash, as the animal seemed to be eager to follow its comrades. Cullen, Ryo, Jack and Nick left right after Leo. They didn´t understand, but they followed their leader, who was obviously not open to any discussion.

She stared at the empty end of the street feeling an unpleasant surprise. She had never seen Leo like that before. Of course, he got angry from time to time, but it never got into the extent of him ignoring everyone else or being reckless.

“What the hell?!” Koki, who was the only one remaining behind, threw his hands up helplessly.

Kame seemed to be kind of thunder-struck as well, as he stood there under the veranda, motionless. Jane led her horse towards him.

“Kame, can you tell us what happened?”

The younger one turned to her with an awfully unhappy expression and studied her face for a while. Koki made sure his horse won´t escape the knot, by which he tied him to the railing and approached them as well.

“You know about us, right? About me and Jin?” Kame asked quietly.

The brunette sighed, already suspecting the reason of Leo´s behavior: “Yes, for quite some time…” she admitted.

“I thought so…” the younger one murmured.

“Leo found out as well?” Jane guessed.

“Yeah… He saw us. And he didn´t take it well,” Kame reacted gloomily.

“So, that´s why… And I wanted to see his expression…” the blonde Rider whined.

“Koki,” Jane looked at him reproachfully.

“You can´t deny you wanted to see it as well,” Koki grinned.

“You two knew about each other?” Kame asked in surprise.

Jane nodded: “It was easy to tell, since he mocked you two so cheerfully.”

Koki just snorted something, before his face got more serious: “But I still don´t get it, why is Leo so pissed?”

Kame sat down on the stairs, suddenly seeming to be very tired: “He and Jin had a quarrel. They didn´t fight, but it was not far from that… I didn´t expect a…. full understanding, but…”

“If Leo said something stupid, don´t worry about it,” Jane said, seeing the younger´s expression. “I know him and when he´s angry, he tends to say things he doesn´t mean.”

Kame looked up, trying to put on a more composed face, but it didn´t seem to Jane that her words had that correct effect.

“Just as Jin,” he said quietly. “He is quite pissed as well, refusing to talk with Leo again.”

“Oh, my…” Jane sighed. “What else to expect, right? Brothers… Look, leave Leo to me, I´ll talk some sense into him. Your task is to persuade Jin to follow us, all right?”

Kame didn´t seem to be very convinced, and for once, Jane was grateful for Koki, who sat down next to him, and threw an arm around his shoulders.

“I´ll help you, handsome,” the blonde one promised. “Even if we have to drag him away from here by force!”

Finally, Kame seemed to be a little relieved: “Thanks… Thank you both.”

“No need to,” Jane shook her head, and jumped into the saddle. “I know that one Akanishi to handle is already more than enough, with two… We must join our forces. Will you be able to follow us?”

Kame nodded: “If you stick to the planned route, then yes.”

“Fine… Good luck, guys.”

“I need no luck,” Koki swaggered. “Mr. Upset has no chance against me.”

Jane just rolled her eyes and waved a goodbye to at them, before making her horse move.

*

When the pretty brunette rushed around the closed theater, galloping to the north on her well-built stallion, the shadows behind one of the decorative pillars moved and revealed a tall figure of a smoking man. He watched as the female rider crossed a narrow bridge and disappeared between the buildings on the other side of the river. Only then he turned towards the Mexican-style saloon on the opposite side of the street again.

Two youngsters, now already standing, talked for a bit, before the one with crazy hairstyle patted the other´s shoulder encouragingly. Then the blonde one headed around the saloon to the back yard of the place, while the other Rider, who seemed to be very troubled, went back inside.

“How many of them arrived, you said?” the man asked, keeping his eyes on the noisy saloon.

“Nine, including that woman,” a quiet voice replied from a shadow behind the next pillar.

“And how many of them we just saw leaving?” the gunman raised another question, despite knowing the answer.

“Six, Chief.”

The smoking man smiled in a quite repulsive way: “Well, aren´t we lucky?”

*

Koki could tell right away, that Kame-chan was not his usual self. He let himself be convinced quite easily to wait in the taproom, while only Koki would go to bring the older Akanishi to senses. That rupture with Leo disconcerted the younger one more than he showed. And that was just another reason to deal with the pissed Akanishi alone.

The blonde Rider didn´t know to where the older one could hole up, so he searched the barn, the stalls, the tool shed, the whole back yard, almost digging in the pile of dung too, but Akanishi was nowhere to be found.

Koki was already tempted to give up, and wait for Jin in the saloon with Kame, when he finally spotted somebody sitting at the tree on the hill behind the barn. Reminding himself not to be discouraged easily, he ascended the slope and stopped next to the young gunslinger.

Akanishi stopped staring at the river, glanced to the side and made a face: “What? Are you a peacemaker now?”

“Kind of,” Koki assumed. “But Leo didn´t send me.”

“Even if he did, I wouldn´t care,” the other one snapped.

“Can you stop fuming for three seconds at least?” the blonde one asked caustically. “We have no time for your offended pride.”

Jin glared at him: “What do you mean by ´no time´?”

“The others had already left, so we need to catch up with them, before they get too far,” Koki informed him sharply.

The information seemed to surprise the older one and it didn´t improve his mood at all: “Who said I want to catch up?”

“Come on, man,” Koki squatted down to look at Jin straight. “Do you really want you two to part in such a way? Leo was just too surprised to think clearly; he will cool down.”

Akanishi kept silent for a while, before he asked: “Who told you about it?”

“Kame-chan did; Leo didn´t explain a thing to us and just herded his horse away from the city.”

“He wasted no time, really,” Jin growled. “Anyone else stayed behind?”

“No, Kame is waiting in the saloon alone; I suppose he already has enough of your burst outs,” the blonde one grinned.

“I´m shocked you´re still here then,” the other one hissed. “Moreover unnecessarily. I won´t come after my stupid brother asking for forgiveness. He´s the one who should apologize.”

Koki rolled his eyes: “Jane was right; you two are unpleasantly alike... Both of you are awfully stubborn.”

“I don´t need you to analyze my character!” Jin snapped again. “Just get off and leave me alone!”

The blonde one observed Akanishi´s angry expression for a while: “Why are you so pissed, I wonder?” he asked a little helplessly. “Isn´t it good that he finally knows? Now you two don´t have to…”

That was not the best choice of words, as Koki found out right away.

“It´s not your concern, Tanaka. Get lost!”

Koki knew what that burning shine in the dark eyes meant. It was useless. At that moment, the older Akanishi wasn´t willing to listen to any reasonable statements. Maybe only Kame would be able to persuade him.

“Fine,” he sighed, giving up. “Just come to the taproom once you calm down, so we can set off. No matter how angry you´re, you know it´s stupid for us to separate like this. Even if you don´t talk to each other, you can still do it together.”

*

Kame stared at those three unfinished beers, left behind by his friends, but he had no taste for alcohol. He was sitting alone in the corner of already quite crowded taproom, as many people stopped by on their way from work to enjoy the specific taste of the Mexican cuisine. But he didn´t really hear their chitchatting about recent news or clinging of cutlery, he was too deep in pessimistic thoughts for that.

It seemed to him that Jin had anticipated his brother´s reaction and that was why he wanted to keep their relationship secret in front of other Riders. Only Kame was so naive to think that maybe all of them would be able to accept it. Moreover, that dream, which Leo had mentioned, kept bugging in Kame´s head.

Jin confirmed that he would like to have a family once. But he couldn´t have it with Kame, that was more than clear. So, once again, the younger one wondered what exactly their relationship meant to Jin… But he kept chasing those worries away, as he was more bothered with the argument between the Akanishi brothers. Kame really hoped that both Jane and Koki would succeed in persuading the two to reconcile. He hated to be the cause of their conflict…

Unexpectedly, somebody sat down on one of the free chairs at the table across from Kame. He looked up to a man wearing a dusty jacket and a wide brimmed hat, which hid his face in the dark. Kame meant to tell him that the table was occupied, but the words got stuck in his throat.

The air in the taproom turned heavy; it was suddenly so thick that it was impossible to breathe normally. All sounds around Kame dimmed and it felt as if the time slowed down for the moment, during which he turned into a statue, not being able to move under the grey look of the eyes, which pierced him from under the hat.

The thin lips created an amused smirk, as the man obviously enjoyed his reaction. Hundreds of pictures ran through Kame´s mind – from tortured Jin, through his burnt-out home, to the motionless bodies on a frozen ground… On his way to Denver, he was lucky to avoid that person, when he set Ukushi and Koki free, so now Kame was almost surprised by the extent of negative emotions, which flooded him at the second their eyes met. That man sitting across him committed so many evil deeds, but paid for none of them. And Kame was not willing to let Math Grenet mess up with his life again.

The young gunslinger didn´t even realize that his hand slipped down to the gun-stock poking out from the sheath on his right hip. He just listened to his instinct telling him to get rid of that person sooner than it would be too late. No matter the consequences, no matter if he had to become a fugitive from of the law… He was ready to shoot that bastard right on that damn chair he was sitting on…

“If you´re thinking about doing something stupid, I strongly recommend you to think again, baby boy.”

Kame froze, with his hand gripped around the revolver. That voice was just as he remembered – quiet and hoarse, overfilled with mocking amusement and dark threat. Not to mention he really hated that stupid nickname.

The time flow returned to normal, though it still felt as if there was not enough oxygen inside the saloon. Kame glanced to the side and noticed Danny McFly, who was standing near the wall just a couple of inches away, watching him. Scanning the rest of the room, he also recognized a familiar gunman at the bar counter, who was staring towards their table. Everybody else seemed to mind their meals or beers.

Kame´s mind had already started working under the emotional pressure – he figured he might still manage to shoot and then overturn the table to avoid being aimed at by the other two. In the mess after that, he would slip outside through the back door, it was quite close and McFly didn´t mean any difficult obstacle for him. Then he would just have to find Jin and Koki and leave the city right away…

He looked back at Grenet, trying hard to remain calm; he couldn´t give in to his emotions now. Kame focused on the feeling of the weapon in his grip, ready to release the fuse.

The smile of the man, who murdered his mother, slowly faded: “Aren´t you missing someone here?” Grenet asked, with his eyes narrowed.

After hearing those words, Kame didn´t feel the gun stock under his fingers anymore, as they turned into ice. He was not able to accept what that question could have meant right away and he just stared at that bastard speechless.

“Let me tell you something, _Kamenashi_ ,” Grenet continued, as he lit up a cigarette. “There´s one of my men outside, waiting and he has a task. If you don´t come out with me within five minutes, he´ll shoot off the stupid head of your precious friend.”

Kame would not be able to speak even if he wanted; only his thoughts ran wild.

 _How the hell could he…? No, wait, wait…_ _Maybe that Grenet is lying, just to corner me…_ Kame was persuading himself. There was no way he could get Jin or Koki so quickly. He was waiting there only for a short while… But Jin has been outside longer…

The smoking gunman smirked again: “You´re probably wondering which friend of yours it is – that blonde asshole or Akanishi. Good for you there´s not so many possibilities since the others left the city, right?”

 _We´ve been watched since we arrived to Fort Collins_ … Kame realized in horror and everything squeezed inside of him. Grenet was probably just waiting for the first opportunity to strike and since they separated from the others because of that argument…

Grenet leant over the table towards him: “Come on, pretty boy, at least guess which of them has the gun at his temple right now.”

Kame was desperately trying to find the way out of the situation, but he just couldn´t see any.

“No?” Grenet raised his eyebrows. “You´re much less talkative than before… Never mind. Give your gun to Danny. Now.”

Kame didn´t move. He couldn´t remember the last time he felt so helpless.

“Do not try me, baby boy… You know what I´m capable of,” Grenet hissed with more than a clear threat.

Yes, Kame did know that, there were memories inside his head which could never be erased. And that was why he was so desperate not to give up. But then he realized there was no fight from the very beginning; Grenet was two steps ahead of him. He had no other choice in this moment. He couldn´t endanger Jin´s or Koki´s life knowingly… So, Kame released his grip on the revolver and started to pull it up only by two fingers.

“Slowly,” Grenet reminded him harshly, watching him like a predator its prey.

Kame raised his hand only a little above the table and waited, until McFly took the revolver from his fingers.

“Good boy,” the smoking gunman noted and got up. “You first,” he gestured to him to leave.

Kame got up stiffly and slowly followed McFly, who led the way to the exit. That other gunman at the bar, whom Kame slightly remembered from Bozeman, joined them at the veranda and buried a cold barrel into Kame´s back.

“To the other side of the street, quickly,” Grenet ordered.

They walked in a tight circle around Kame, so that other passerby would not notice anything suspicious. Kame staggered among them, waiting for any sign, which would tell him that he was being deceived. There was still a chance that Grenet was lying… Once he would confirm that Jin and Koki were safe, he might try to run off, to the nearest Marshals office for example, or simply snatch another gun and put a proper bullet into that jerk´s head. As far as he didn´t like killing, Kame was sure that he would have no problem with it in Grenet´s case…

They entered the narrow aisle and at its end Kame noticed some horses waiting and one man with them. The closer they got, the surer he was that there was nobody else. If Grenet really had one of those two, it would _have to_ be somewhere close.

Kame concentrated on the movements of his captors around, waiting for the end of the aisle. There were two men with guns behind him, and one of them Grenet, but only McFly was in front of him. If he could throw the boy against the guardian of horses and managed to get behind the nearest corner… Grenet didn´t want to kill him, at least not right away, he was pretty sure about that. And since it seemed that he was just bluffing about having Jin or Koki, an attempt to escape, no matter where, was his only chance and he was going to…

Kame didn´t even finish his thought, as a strong hand grabbed him, forcing him to stop and a sudden hard hit from the side made his mind go black.

*

Marty crouched down to the motionless body and pressed the fingers against the pale skin of the youngster´s neck. Then he nodded at his boss. One precise blow right into the temple was enough, Kamenashi was unconscious.

“Tie him to the saddle and let´s go,” satisfied Grenet ordered, finishing his cigarette.

“What about Akanishi?” Danny asked quietly, while Marty and the other gunman dragged Kamenashi from the aisle towards the horses.

Math smiled confidently: “No need to worry about him, Danny. If he cares for our pretty face just half as much as I think, he´ll come on his own. And even if he cannot find the way, we´ll help him a little. But only after I have my fun…”


	37. Bad spirit

**I** t took Jane over a mile to catch up with the others, and another one before Leo was finally willing to take a break from their fast ride northeast. The brunette dismounted her stallion and patted its neck gratefully, before looking around a small glade covered with a few thin trees. For his rest, the Riders´ leader chose a wide stone on the bank of a small stream, in which they could water their horses. From that spot, the young Akanishi observed the wide plains, which came into view on their right, as soon as they had left the last buildings of Fort Collins behind.

Jane checked the position of the sun and estimated that there were approximately two hours of daylight left. If those three hadn´t left the city yet, they had no chance of catching up to them before the dark would fall. She took a few gulps of water from her flask, while watching her lover worriedly. She had to come up with the best way to approach Leo and calm him down, not to push him even further behind that upset wall he built up around himself.

Ryo, Jack and Nick were very quiet, and kept sending pleading glances towards her. Of course, they relied on her now, as none of them wanted to confront furious Leo. Even Cullen seemed to be quite concerned. No wonder they were confused about Leo´s behavior, since their leader didn´t explain his reasons for leaving Jin, Kame and Koki in Fort Collins.

Jane made a couple of determined steps, stood next to sitting Leo and focused on his stiff face: “Have you cooled down yet?” she asked, while crossing her hands on her chest.

Leo looked up and gave her one annoyed glance, before turning back to the plains´ view, without any reply. But he didn´t send her away as before, when they were still in the saddles, which Jane considered a good sign.

“Stop acting like an angry kid,” she reproached him strictly. “This is beneath you, Leo.”

“You don´t know why I behave like this, so stop lecturing me!” her lover snapped rather irritated.

“Actually… I do,” Jane objected calmly.

One by one, the others approached them slowly, listening curiously.

“What do you mean by that, Jane?” Leo asked with his eyes dangerously narrowed.

She took a deep breath. It would be contra-productive to keep that secret hidden from the others even now; it was about time for all of them to know.

“I know that Jin and Kame are a couple,” she stated firmly.

Leo stared at her without a move. Ryo´s eyes widened, Jack´s jaw dropped, Nick seemed baffled and Cullen raised his eyebrows.

“I saw them together once,” the brunette continued, ignoring the other Riders and focusing only on the younger Akanishi. “But they hadn´t noticed me, and I didn´t tell them.”

Leo stood up slowly: “Why didn´t you say something?” he asked suddenly quietly.

“It´s their privacy; it was not for me to expose them,” she explained carefully. “Even though I thought that they should reveal it to us…”

“Wait, wait,” Ryo cut in. “Are you serious? Our Handsome and Jin are… dating?”

Jane nodded: “For quite a while already, I think.”

The deaf silence followed. Then Cullen reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes: “That explains a lot,” he noted shortly.

Ryo tried to suppress it at first, but then he chuckled aloud anyway: “Wow, that´s some news! That´s why they´re always so clingy!”

Jack and Nick were somewhat lost at words, but it was better than if they had some indignant comments. Jane appreciated those reactions a lot. If the others could take it calmly, it would help to persuade Leo as well.

“I guess they were just afraid to tell us,” Jane continued.

Ryo slapped his forehead: “Ah, they thought we would judge them, right?”

“Well,” Nick cleared his throat. “It´s not… any usual behavior, so… no wonder.”

“Don´t be so old fashioned, man,” Ryo nudged into Nick´s shoulder, still giggling. “I can´t believe they managed to keep it secret from us for so long!”

“You ´re having quite a lot of fun about this,” Jack, who seemed to be the most sheepish about the revelation, murmured.

“And what else?” the black-haired one shrugged. “I´m not up to be their judge. You are?”

The youngest Rider had no response to that. Jane almost smiled as well, but then she looked back at Leo and unfortunately, the Riders´ leader didn´t seem to be even close to amused or persuaded…

“They lied to us,” Leo stated harshly.

Everybody fell silent again and looked at frowning Leo. And that statement made Jane realize something…

“It seems we got to the point…” she stepped even closer to her lover, not a bit frightened by his dark look. “Tell me, Leo – are you upset because your brother has an affair with another man or because he didn´t tell you about it?”

Though Leo was still scowling, something changed in his eyes, and Jane knew that at least partially she hit the point.

“Leo… I know you hate lies, but wasn´t it understandable in this case?” she asked softly.

“That´s right,” Ryo dared to join her. “I mean – they didn´t betray us or anything like that… Right, Cullen?” the black-haired one turned to the second-in-command, looking for some back-up.

“Don´t drag me into this,” the older Rider snorted with a cigarette between his lips.

“Oh, come on… I´m eager to hear your opinion!” Ryo urged.

Cullen rolled his eyes: “Look, as comes to me, they can do whatever they want, unless it won´t mess up with our plans. Satisfied?”

“Fully,” the younger Rider grinned.

Their leader noted Cullen´s words as well, but he kept silent, and suddenly seemed to be almost sad.

“Leo…” Jane tried again, but she was interrupted.

“It´s not only about that they lied, Jane,” Leo spoke in a strange tone. “They also seem to be quite serious about it, at least Jin does. Can you imagine what that might mean?”

The brunette opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out of them, as she sank into her lover´s eyes. Ryo, Jack and Nick were quite confused again, only Cullen seemed to be aware of what was hidden behind that silent exchange of looks.

Jane gulped down, but that sudden lump in her throat didn´t want to go away. Leo´s statement made her remember something; something what she kept suppressing all the time so hard, that she managed not to think about it at all. But now it was all back – painful memories, desperate tears, that feeling of being hollow… Her determination to talk Leo into reconciliation with his older brother wavered.

“You know what I mean, right?” Leo asked, with the pain hidden in his voice.

“I know,” Jane reacted quietly. “I know… But it´s not a reason for you to reject your own brother.”

Leo sighed and turned to the vast plains again, while Jane lowered her head.

“Well… I suppose we´re missing something,” Ryo reflected carefully. “But still… It´s not so surprising news at all. Kame is quite awesome, so it´s no wonder that Jin fell for him,” the young Rider grinned, trying to lighten the atmosphere up. “Am I right, guys?”

Jack chuckled, finally overcoming the first shock and Nick wisely decided to ignore the question.

“Don´t ask me such stupid things, kiddo,” Cullen snorted. “The young these days, seriously… You´ll bring me to my grave.”

Ryo made a face, while Jack pretended to be offended. Jane made two steps, approaching silent Leo, and touched his arm.

“Don´t push him away, Leo. Not for this…” she pleaded quietly. “They don´t deserve your condemnation and you know that.”

Leo stood still for a while, before he caught Jane´s hand and turned to them again.

“Ryo… Can you make it back to Fort Collins this evening?” he asked seriously.

The black-haired one repaid his look for a while, before he nodded with a wide smile: “I had a feeling that we forgot someone over there… I´m going right away.”

“They might be on their way already, so be careful not to miss them,” Jane warned. “Koki and Kame wanted to persuade Jin to come after us.”

“And don´t rush too much, this road is quite bad,” Leo added. “We´ll wait here for you; it´s all right if you get back tomorrow in the morning.”

“As you command, Chief!” the black-haired one imitated a saluting gesture and rushed back to his horse with a cheerful whistling on his lips. Also Jack and Nick seemed to be relieved and Cullen just nodded, when Leo looked at him.

“I´m going to get us some wood for the night…” the older Rider decided. “It will be damn cold out here…”

With Jack and Nick going to take care of the horses, the couple remained alone. Leo turned to Jane, and without a word, he hugged her, hiding his face into her hair, while she soothed his back slowly. When he pulled away, Leo´s expression was much calmer. He took Jane´s hand again and dragged her behind him gently. The brunette didn´t protest, when he led her away for a private walk along the stream.

***

 

Jin hated to admit it, but he knew that the blonde Rider was right. It was damn true that it was stupid of them to separate after the first disagreement. The revelation was simply too sudden for Leo. Maybe, just maybe, if he had talked to his brother in advance, suggesting something about him and Kame, it would not have ended up in such an awful argument…

Despite this realization, it took Jin quite some time before he overcame that wave of anger at his stupid, stupid little brother. Leo didn´t understand a thing about him and Kame and he didn´t even try! He just condemned them right away, not caring about their reasons.

Both of them went through a lot, before Jin himself could accept his affection for the younger one, and Leo had no right to judge them. Moreover, those things he said about Kame… It was as if Leo forgot everything what they did for him and for the Riders; his brother could have taken at least that into consideration, before he started to throw insults at them…

As Jin didn´t want to vent his bad mood on the younger one, he decided to remain at the river bank, until he was sure that he could control himself. And the truth was that if not for Tanaka´s intervention, he would have spent there much longer time.

When the sun was drawing near the reddening west, Jin was walking back towards the saloon, with his head lowered and forehead full of wrinkles. He didn´t expect that Leo would have left just like this. Koki was more than right in that too – they should stick together now of all times. And they should have talked about all of it with clearer heads…

He just got to the back yard, when he noticed some fast steps, which made him raise his head.

“Oh, no… You again?” Jin sighed, when he recognized the blonde Rider heading towards him.

“Kame is not with you?” Koki asked, ignoring the annoyed greeting.

Jin frowned: “No… You told me he´s waiting in the saloon…”

“Yeah, he was, _before_ ,” the Rider scratched his head confusedly. “But he´s not there anymore. At first, I thought he just went to relieve himself or that he went after you, but…”

“For how long has he been gone?” Jin asked with a bad hunch.

“Half an hour or so? I don´t know, the barmaid says she didn´t notice him either, but the taproom is packed now, so that´s no wonder.”

“Did you check the stables?” that was the only place Jin could think of as Kame´s refugee. He probably needed some peace and quiet as well…

The blonde one shook his head: “No, not yet.”

“Fine, I´ll do it, you try the barn.”

Jin set off towards the building in a much faster pace than before, holding on the possibility that Kame might be there. But his hope faded even before he entered the spacious place, because already from the outside he could hear the nervous neighing.

The view of the stalls being empty except for Kuro, Ukushi and a couple of other animals made his heart sink. The white mare was stomping in her stable, shaking her head and kept neighing in short intervals, while Kuro was standing there, watching her seriously.

*

When Koki peeked inside the stalls just a moment later, he found the older Akanishi standing at the wooden partition and slowly soothing the white mare.

“Not here either?” he huffed. “The barn is empty as well, except for one very rude kid.”

Jin stepped away from Ukushi, which still seemed very nervous, walked along the stables and stopped next to the blonde Rider. He looked outside with a tense expression, not saying anything.

“Do you think he just went for a walk or something?” Koki suggested carefully.

“No,” Jin reacted quietly. “Kame would not disappear like this, without telling anything, the less under these circumstances.”

“Right… He´s more responsible than that,” the blonde one admitted. “But in that case…”

“Something happened to him,” the other one finished in a strained voice.

“We cannot be sure about that,” Koki tried to be more positive.

“I know it,” Jin reacted in such a firm voice, that it persuaded Koki right away. “Ukushi senses it too. Not to mention that Kame would have taken her with him if…” Jin stopped talking and he half-covered his face with an open palm. “I let him out of my sight even though I promised that… Damn it…”

So suddenly, that Koki flinched, Akanishi moved and with a furious intensity he kicked into some empty bucket. The metal ended up making an awful noise on its way across the yard.

“It was Grenet,” Jin spitted out that cursed name with an absolute certainty.

Koki´s jaw dropped at that: “How the hell can you…?”

“Only that son of a bitch is a perfect explanation!” the older Akanishi raised his voice, pacing in front of the entrance. “Somebody had to notice us when we arrived and reported it to him, exactly as Kame feared.”

“When you put it like this, I´m afraid that you´re right…” Koki sighed, already worried as well.

“I´m damn sure about it,” Jin snapped and stopped at the spot, burying his wide and dangerous eyes into the blonde one. “Can you find a way to that quarry you two talked about?”

Koki nodded slowly: “I´m quite sure I can. And we can ask for some directions as well. It´s pretty well-known place around here…”

“Fine, you don´t have to come with me then,” Akanishi reacted and rushed around him back to the stalls, to prepare Kuro for another travel. “It will be better for you if you join Leo as well…”

But Jin made only three steps before the blonde Rider grabbed his arm and turned him back rather angrily: “You sit on your ears or what? Did I say anything like that? I´m going with you, of course!!”

Jin repaid the other´s determined look for a while, before his grim expression eased up a little: “Thanks…”

Koki grinned, though it was rather forced: “I will make you thank me a thousand times after we get Kame back.”

***

 

His head tingled, the back of his neck was painfully stiff and his shoulders felt unnatural. For a short moment, Kame was not sure what could be the reason of his state, but only until he smelled the pungent odor of cheap cigarettes and stale beer. Then he quickly realized that his wrists were tied together behind his back and that his neck hurt because he was sitting with his head lowered limply.

He forced himself to remain motionless and focused on his surroundings. Thanks to the awful, stuffy smell he assumed that he was in some closed room and even not being for an occasional creak of some chair or rustle of newspapers, he would know that he was not alone. He also recognized some muted noises from the outside – something heavy being loaded, the creak of wheels, snorting of horses and voices saying good nights. All of those indicated an end of some shift. There was only one place Kame could think of as his current location – Laporte Quarry.

He half-opened his eyes, still trying to avoid an attention of anyone who might be guarding him. He was seated in a solid chair, his arms twisted backwards. A yellow light of kerosene was filling up the room, so he assumed it was already dark. He was unconscious for long time…

He gritted his teeth in useless anger at himself – he let himself be fooled by precisely aimed lies and ended up in a pretty pile of shit. That was more than clear to him right away.

Suddenly, he heard somebody getting up and walking. Right after that a hand grabbed his hair and his head was twisted up roughly - he was looking at the harsh face of that man, who was waiting at the bar before. Kame was sure that the blow, which sent him into the black unconsciousness, was this gunman´s job; it came from the side he had been walking. Now, he could also faintly remember his name – he was Marty.

Seeing Kame´s open eyes, the gunman smirked, let his hair go and looked at someone behind his back: “Fetch Grenet, our princess woke up.”

There was no reply, but someone´s easy steps headed outside. It was not long before the door got opened again. By that time, Marty took a stance at the wall leaving the chair behind the messy desk free for his boss.

While listening to the steps of heavy boots with spurs coming closer, Kame was concentrating on his own breathing. Looking back at the encounter at the Mexican bar, he was shocked by how easily that man´s presence shook him off balance. If there was any chance for him to escape, he couldn´t let it happen again…

 

Feeling victorious, Math crossed the plank flooring and sat behind Cameron´s desk with a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. After months of useless search and annoying waiting, he had one of those brats in his hands and he was quite sure that the other one would follow soon. Moreover, it was very convenient that Cameron hadn´t come back yet; he didn´t have to share his deserved fun with anyone.

He lit up a cigarette, leant into the chair, threw his legs up on the desk and only after that he decided to pay attention to his captive. Kamenashi repaid his look unwaveringly. That was a little unpleasant surprise; Math expected that the former bartender would be more freaked out by now.

“You took your time, baby boy,” he noted and took a long inhale of smoke into his lungs. “I was almost worried that we´d have to give you a cold shower.”

Kamenashi didn´t reply. Math observed his face carefully. The boy´s hair was a bit longer and quite disheveled. With the lips pressed together firmly, his expression was rougher than Math remembered, but he was still just as awfully pretty as before, with those hazelnut eyes and pale skin.

“Long time no see, huh?” Math smirked. “Missed me?”

It seemed that the youngster decided to act impregnable, as not even this time he got any response. So be it, everybody could be tamed when the right string was played…

“You were quite busy meanwhile, weren´t you?” he continued, tapping his heel over the newspapers at the table shortly. “Ganging up with the Black Riders… Jeez, it´s not suited to you, baby boy. I wonder what your mother would say about that.”

Finally, he noticed the first change in Kamenashi´s expression, as his look darkened at the mention of his poor dead mother.

“I guess you found out that thefts are more profitable than serving beers, huh?” Math assumed mockingly. When there was no response again, he was already starting to be annoyed, but he didn´t let it show and even widened his grin. “You used to be much more sociable… Are you so scared you can´t even talk?”

Kamenashi stared at him for a while, before he finally spoke in a hoarse voice: “I´ve got nothing to tell you, Grenet.”

There was almost palpable disgust and resistance in the youngster´s voice, which Math didn´t like much. _This boy should be much more polite…_

“On the contrary, Kamenashi,” he informed his captive haughtily. “There´s so many things you can tell me. And you will…” he added threateningly.

And again, he received just that defiant look as a reaction. Math let his legs slip down and got up. Still smoking, he walked around the desk slowly and sat at the edge of it, right in front of the pretty boy. Kamenashi was watching him as he moved; Math could feel that sharp stare all the time. Good, he definitely had that little bastard´s attention. Kamenashi was certainly not so calm, as he tried to appear.

“It seems you guys managed to snatch quite a catch from Tabor… What do you want to do with all that money?” Math asked curiously. “Or rather – where is that cash right now?”

Kamenashi stared at him rather incredulously now, which made Math smirk again.

“What? Did you think I grabbed you just for your pretty ass?” he laughed shortly. “Well, it´s definitely part of it, but… I wouldn´t mind some additional bonus at all. So, who has the money? That brat, who leads you all?” Math doused the cigarette over the edge of the table, waiting if the boy had anything to say about that. Absolutely nothing came out of those thin lips, though.

Math raised one of his legs and placed it on Kamenashi´s thigh, leaning over it, so that the boot pressed against the muscle painfully.

“Look, you know me, baby boy, right? We can do this either the easy way or the more difficult one. And I guess you already know how that harder one looks like, don´t you?” he pressed even harder, pinching the muscle of the youngster´s inner thigh between the chair and his heel. “You saw what a splendid job I did on that Akanishi bastard, right?”

“Go to Hell…” Kamenashi hissed through his teeth.

That was some reaction finally; the hatred in brown eyes gave them a strange glamour, which made Math Grenet smiled in satisfaction: “But of course, if would be such a shame to deface you right at the beginning. I have other ways to make you talk…”

To Math´s surprise, a scornful smirk appeared on that handsome face: “Sure, I can imagine…” Kamenashi snorted. “And you´ll have your minions holding me down during it. Once a coward, always a coward, Grenet, right?”

 

Kame knew that it was not a good idea to provoke that man, but he couldn´t help it. He was not afraid of him. Yes, he knew what Grenet was capable of, but his hatred towards that creature who murdered his mother was much greater than his fear of what the gunman might have done to him. Not to mention that Grenet had nothing to blackmail him with this time - there was no Mother, no Lena, no Jin… Kame had no single reason to play in his fucked up game, so he wouldn´t.

Grenet stiffened after his last statement, piercing him with sharp look for a while. Kame could see clearly in the man´s grey eyes that his attitude angered him. The pressure against his aching thigh disappeared, as Grenet pulled his boot back down to the ground and straightened up.

Kame saw that hand coming, but he couldn´t get out of its way. Grenet slapped him twice, hard, from each side. Kame´s cheeks were burning and he also felt the tin taste of blood in his mouth. He took a deep breath. Grenet was trying to humiliate him, just like before…

A hard hand grabbed his neck and forced his head back up. Kame had to suppress an urge to vomit, when Grenet´s face got so close to his, and he was flooded with his breath stinking as an awful pit.

“You insolent brat! You mean to tell that I´m not enough to deal with you?” Grenet barked.

Kame just stared at him, saying nothing at all, but his silence was a sufficient answer. Grenet let him go so roughly, that he felt the man´s nails scratching his neck.

“Danny, untie him!” Grenet spat an order. “Don´t stand there like an idiot and do it!”

Soon Kame felt a touch of small, cold fingers, fighting with the firm knot. Not that his situation would improve in any way with that – even if he could fight Grenet off, there were those two inside and definitely more of his men outside. It was useless, even if he would win… But on the other hand, he was not willing to let himself be beaten up for nothing.

When the rope finally fell down, both his hands happened to be under a strong sensation of pins and needles.

“Get up, baby boy!” Grenet challenged him. “Show me what you´ve got!”

Kame remained sitting and started to massage his wrists, with his eyes firmly fixed on the figure of the man in front of him. Grenet´s hands clenched into fists. Kame slipped from the chair to the right side in the last second, avoiding a hard hit aimed at his chin. Bouncing by one hand from the floor, he straightened up, just to step sideways again, as Grenet attacked again. Danny McFly, who released his ties, quickly retreated to the corner to make room for them.

Grenet spat on the floor and threw his hat away: “You can be agile as a monkey, but you can´t run forever.”

Kame kept silent, getting into the concentrated mode, which allowed him to adapt to the gunman´s movements. He didn´t duck to the side from the next punch, as Grenet already expected that, he bowed instead and turned around his attacker, under his arms.

Grenet turned with a dangerous shine in his eyes. He didn´t go for another attack then, he just walked forward, right towards Kame, forcing him to take one step back after another, until the younger one hit the table. Grenet expected it, Kame didn´t. He tried to go left, but the gunman managed to keep the pace with him this time and grabbed his arm pulling him back.

Grenet aimed another hit at his stomach. Kame tried to slip away, but those fingers held him firmly. He prepared himself for the blow, but either way it was so strong that it knocked his breath out. Kame bent under the painful pressure, but before Grenet could repeat his attack, he gathered his strength and with both hands shoved the man away. Grenet staggered heavily, stopping only at the wall.

“You fight like a girl!” the gunman snapped and went after Kame again.

Kame managed to avoid that easily. Too easily, as he realized right after that. It was just a trick. In the next moment, the chair, on which he was sitting before, broke against his shoulder, neck and head. Kame fell down to his knees with very loud ringing in his head.

“You need a lesson,” Grenet hissed, as he grabbed his hair painfully. “How to fight like a man!”

Instinctively, Kame raised his hands to protect his head; Grenet kicked him instead, right under the ribs. It was as if in the next second he would throw his stomach up. Kame just wanted to curl into a ball and search for his breath, but the strong grip in his hair prevented him from it. Instead, he was dragged up to his feet. Grenet shoved with him against the nearest wall, Kame´s back clashing with the firm surface.

“Not so cheeky now, huh?” Grenet growled, clutching Kame´s neck again.

With hazy eyes, Kame checked their surroundings, searching for anything useful. But there was only that McFly boy, staring at the scene from the corner and Marty, watching them with an amused smirk. Grenet´s face covered Kame´s view then and he felt the man´s hand groping in his crotch.

“You think you can fight me back without consequences?” the fuming gunman hissed. “You should have never got in my way, baby boy.”

Kame clenched his teeth, when Grenet´s hand gripped him down there.

“Not only that I will make you talk, you will _scream_ …”

 _No_ , there was a strong voice in Kame´s head. _Not this anymore._

Since Grenet let his hands free, it was easier, that he had thought. He supported himself over the man´s shoulders and with all strength he had, he kicked up his right knee. Grenet yelled almost like a woman, released his grip and fell to the ground with both palms covering his crotch.

“You meant an _unfair_ fight?” Kame breathed out heavily. “I can do that too.”

“Get him,” Grenet wheezed, with his face red like a tomato.

Marty was already on the move, so he pushed Kame against the wall again right after, while McFly summoned another gunman from the hall inside and then helped Grenet to get on his feet again.

“Tie that… little brat… to the stake…” Grenet had a hard time to find his breath to speak. “For the whole… night.”

“Sure thing, boss! Move it!”

Before they showed Kame out through the door, quite roughly, he managed to catch the last glance from Grenet and despite how disgusted and angry Kame was, that look brought him chills…

***

 

Ryo felt lost. None of those, whom they had left behind, was in the bar anymore, neither their horses in the stables. They might have missed each other on the way, but there were not so many opportunities to get to the north, so he really doubted that. In the end, he went to ask the staff behind the bar, hoping that they would remember his friends.

“No…” the Mexican barmaid shook her head, dousing Ryo´s hopes. “No three men as you tell. Only two.”

“Two?” Ryo was even more confused now. “And they looked like I described, Madame?”

“Yes, yes, one with crazy yellow hair and another was quite handsome with dark eyes. Very dark yes, almost like a devil…” the woman murmured for herself.

“So, there was no brown-haired youngster?”

The barmaid shook her head and prepared another tankard of beer.

 _That is not good,_ Ryo thought.

“And you said they asked you about something?”

“Yes, yes, they wanted to know the shortest way to that quarry for something, in the west,” the woman waved in that direction impatiently.

 _Oh, hell… Quarry?_ Something was telling Ryo, that it wasn´t only bad, that something went really, really wrong.

“Anything else you remember?” he urged on the woman. “Do you know why they wanted to know?”

The woman shrugged: “I´m not a gossip, young man. I didn’t listen.”

“Please, I´m really worried for them. Can´t you remember anything else?”

The barmaid sighed: “Well, now when you mentioned it… It seemed they were looking for that third one.”

 _Not good, not good, not good…_ Ryo had to take a deep breath to at least finish the conversation: “Thank you, Madame, you helped me a lot.”

Ryo rushed outside the taproom and jumped right back into the saddle of his waiting stallion. He hoped to spend the night at the saloon, warm and comfortable, but since it seemed that Jin and Koki set off to the place, where Math Grenet was supposed to reside, they had to have a damn good reason for it.

He could follow the two and help them out, but he didn´t have to think about it long to figure that letting Leo and the others know was the wise choice. Grenet definitely had his gunmen around, and it was better to clash with them in bigger numbers. Though, Ryo really hoped it wouldn´t come to that… So, no matter that both he and his horse were already quite tired, he set off into the dark almost at full gallop.

***

 

Even in the deep cold night, the narrow valley, in which the sandstone quarry Laporte was located, was emitting the soft light, as tens of kerosene lanterns were making the yellow stone glow. Despite that there was almost no move down in the valley; it was long after the last shift. But it would be foolish to think that nothing extraordinary was going on there.

All over the edge of slopes above the quarry, guarding men were pacing their perimeters with rifles in hands, more guards could be seen near the only proper entrance to the valley, huddled over the box which probably served them as a card table and more men were definitely hidden behind the lights in the windows of two biggest buildings in the area.

Jin paid attention to each and one of them as he observed the quarry from one of the highest spots above the valley, counting them. He was aware that one of the guards would pass his hiding spot soon, but there was the blonde one for that, to warn him in advance. So, he didn´t let himself to be disturbed from the small view in the telescope, as he kept moving it over the buildings, carts and stones. His hands literally froze, when he finally noticed what he was searching for. He put the telescope aside for a while, to make sure about the direction, before he placed it up again.

A short, very quiet whistle, reminding some night bird was heard from the dark and Jin quickly retreated from the edge of the cliff, sneaking into the bushes.

“Hey! That was my foot!” the slurred figure with yellow hair hissed at him, as he took his place there.

“Shut up,” the other gunslinger silenced him, as he already saw the distant figure of a guard approaching.

They both waited motionless, until the yawing man disappeared on the other side of his usual walk and then quickly moved even further back, so they could talk. They reached the small ravine between the rocks, where three horses were waiting for them, two of them obviously very impatient. Koki pulled out a small travel light and held it above their heads, while Jin was drawing at the piece of paper, marking out buildings and guards, with the blonde one completing him with everything he remembered from before.

“Kame´s tied up to a stake next to the biggest building,” Jin talked in a strained voice, as if he had to try really hard not to start yelling.

“Yeah, the manager´s office is there, and some private bar downstairs,” Koki noted.

“And who cares about that?!” Akanishi snapped suddenly, piercing the blonde one with his eyes.

Koki repaid that fierce look for a while. Nobody, who would see that expression, would want to mess up with Akanishi at that moment, himself included. It was understandable, but still it made Koki kind of nervous to see the other one so… emotional.

“Well, that´s probably where Grenet is, right?” he guessed carefully.

Jin stared at him for a moment, before nodded: “Yeah, we might assume that. Also I´ve noticed one more captive next to Kame, maybe an Indian; it was hard to say in that gloom.”

“You said they´re tied to stakes?” Koki asked frowning.

“Yes, with their hands up…” Jin confirmed darkly.

“That bastard is still using the same methods,” the blonde one murmured disgusted.

That caught Jin´s attention: “What do you mean?”

“Ahem, nothing much, it´s just uncomfortable…” Koki reacted right away, trying not to disturb Akanishi even more.

“Koki…” the dark threat was almost visible, as Jin growled.

The blonde Rider sighed: “They make you stand only on your tips, while the rope is pulling you up. At first it´s just annoying, later… you know,” he didn´t dare to say the whole truth, which scarred him forever.

Akanishi´s eyes turned somehow distant: “Yeah, I know…”

Koki was confused by the honesty of that statement first, before he remembered that those two mentioned something about Jin being a captive on Karnaka´s farm. So, the older one had his own experiences with Grenet´s abilities…

They both looked at the makeshift map again, neither of them willing to continue in the topic.

“So, how do we do this?” Koki sighed. “If I remember correctly, the access to the main area is too narrow and too well guarded.”

“That´s right. We might be able to slip in somehow, but we never get away the same way,” Jin agreed.

“And there´s too many guards for my taste,” the blonde one continued, commenting the dark spots. “It´s like they´re expecting some _guests_.”

“That´s highly probable… I doubt that Grenet thinks I might appear here so soon, but there is that Indian.”

“You mean those issues with Sioux?” Koki followed the other´s hint.

“Yeah, maybe they are on alert because of them. But anyway, we must count on that Grenet is waiting for my arrival… He must have realized once I figure out that Kame´s disappearance is his job, I´ll come after him. He knows that we´re… friends.”

“Sheesh,” the blonde one breathed out. “For a second I thought you´d say he knows that you´re lovers.”

Jin looked at him in an almost scared way: “No, there´s no way that he could find out. He mustn´t know that… He´s focused on Kame enough as it is. No matter the issues with Karnaka, Grenet had always wanted to hurt him from the very beginning,” he finished in a dark, disgusted tone.

Koki frowned in confusion: “I´m not sure I follow you, Jin… What do you mean by that?”

Akanishi clenched the hand, which was not holding the paper, into fist and said nothing.

“Jin…?” the blonder Rider looked into his face more carefully, suddenly suspicious about the true origin of their troubles with Grenet. “Don´t tell me that…”

“We just _have to_ get Kame out of there as soon as possible, ok?” Jin interrupted him.

Koki didn´t need any other explanation. He nodded seriously, kind of aghast, trying not to imagine what kind of sick stuff Grenet could do to their handsome cook.

Frowning Jin was focused on the paper in front of them again: “As you said, too many guards, so we need a distraction.”

“Yeah, but what can we use?” Koki wondered. “I doubt there will be another convenient stock of dynamite waiting for us.”

“You not happened to have some fireworks with you, right?” Akanishi asked somewhat lightly.

“What? No…” the blonde one shook his head, once again surprised by the flow of the other´s thoughts.

“I assumed that much. It wouldn´t work well here, anyway…” Jin murmured. “What about the rope?”

“Yes, I´ve got one, quite long,” Koki confirmed.

“Good… Me too. So, let´s say I let myself be caught.”

Koki´s eyes widened: “Stop talking nonsense, how would _that_ help us?”

“I assume that only my presence is expected, so you might create quite a surprise after that…”

“But, but… Damn it, think it through, Jin! There´s only two of us for this! If you get caught…!”

But the other didn´t let himself to be disturbed, as it seemed that he figured something out: “All right, plan A. We´ll use the opposite side of the valley, the angle is the mildest over there. I´ll slip down on a rope. If necessary, I´ll free the horses from the fence, which will hopefully distract some of the guards. Otherwise, I´ll just get rid of those two, who are watching the prisoners. I´ll grab Kame, and you with Kuro will pull us up again, once I give you the signal.”

“Sounds too risky,” Koki reacted gloomily. “Somebody will notice you right on that wall and alarm the whole quarry!”

“That´s plan B for, which includes my previous idea,” Jin objected. “They catch us on the run and bring us inside to Grenet. That´s when you´ll step into the game.”

“Sure, I will invade there as a cavalry itself and shoot the way out for all three of us,” the blonde one assumed caustically. “What do you think I´ll be able to pull off alone?”

“You´ll ignite that building with us inside,” Jin said, as if he was talking about the weather. “They obviously have more than enough kerosene for that.”

“Whaaaat?!”

“That will make them take us out as well, Grenet doesn´t want us dead right away,” Jin started explaining, with a strange shine in his eyes. “They will be busy with dousing the fire, so if you wait nearby, you can surprise our captors from behind and bring us the weapons too. Then we can use Kuro again, he will help all of us to climb up the slope, we can support ourselves on the wall easily.”

Koki stared at his companion, feeling chills on his back: “That´s crazy, Jin…”

Akanishi folded the map and looked in Koki´s eyes: “I´m not crazy, just desperate to save him,” he reacted quietly.

 


	38. Helpless night

**T** he night was cold and calm, disrupted only rarely. Such as by the Sioux´s breathing, that was shallow and hoarse. From time to time, also the voices of guards drifted faintly through the air, as the men met on their checking points above the valley. The grains of sand crunched under the boots of two Grenet´s gunmen, who were assigned to watch over the captives and the breeze occasionally brought the scent of their cigarettes towards the stakes. And then, also a strange and very quiet noise was heard, as if something was grinding over stony ground…

All those sounds in the dark were only an insignificant background for Kame, as he was fully focused on remaining still. It was the only way to bring himself as little of pain as was possible.

His hands were tied somewhere up above his head, but he didn´t feel them anymore, as all the blood had drained down from them. His calves were contorted in convulsions, because only the tips of his feet carried the weight of his body now. But Kame didn´t move in any attempt to bring himself some relief from this uncomfortable position; it would have been useless anyway.

As Kame´s fellow prisoner whispered in his native tongue hours ago, whatever reason the Indian had for it, remaining motionless prevented both of them from hurting their backs even more than they already were. It didn´t mean that the little spikes piercing Kame´s skin hurt any less, but there was no way around it. At least, the blood stopped dripping from the small but deep injuries.

Kame knew better than to expect that Grenet would be so nice to just lock him up somewhere in the cellar, but this stake thing was something behind his expectations. Already the way he was tied up to it was painful enough, but there was also a dozen of long nails, conversely hammered in its surface, which harmed the body no matter how hard you tried to avoid it.

Despite the pain, thirst and cold, Kame felt strangely calm. He was aware that Grenet was capable of anything to get what he wanted, but he was determined to fight back. He would not give in to the pressure of that creature at all costs.

Not to mention that if his hunch was right, Jin and Koki figured out what happened quickly and they would come for him. He just hoped they would go after Leo to ask for help first, no matter that it would mean for him to spend the longer time in Grenet´s ´care´. It would be too risky if they tried to rescue him alone. Grenet was waiting only for that, for any reckless move Jin would make, Kame knew. That man wanted to get both of them... And that could not happen, _not ever_.

A quiet creak was heard and then the neighing of horses, followed by the sound of many hooves trotting.

“Hey! Watch out!”

“Our horses!!”

“Damn it!”

“Which idiot was supposed to _close_ the fence?!”

Nor the steps rushing away, neither cursing of Grenet´s men made Kame move. And not even almost inaudible steps somewhere behind his stake, even though he somehow knew that he should pay attention to them. Only a gentle touch on his face tore Kame off his trance. He opened his eyes and very slowly, so that he would not move with anything else, raised his head.

At first, he didn´t want to believe it; wasn´t it just _too soon_ for any kind of rescue? But he would have recognized those handsome features in a much deeper night, than it was at that moment, as the sky above the valley was brightening with the approaching dawn already.

“Kazu… Are you awake?”

Even if not for that whispering voice, Kame would know... Already that touch was too familiar not to recognize the other one. Or maybe… Maybe that he was just dreaming foolishly.

“Jin...?” he let the name slip from his lips uncertainly.

“Who else, Turtle?” the young gunman replied softly. "Hold on a second, I´ll cut these off."

Kame took a deep breath, despite it cost him a new wave of stabbing pain in his back: “Jin… He´s waiting... for you... Be careful…”

“I know,” there was a dark reply and then a skillful hand started to cut the rope clutching Kame´s wrists.

*

Jin kept pressing the blade against the thick straps, trying to cut through as quickly as possible, without harming the younger one´s hands. They had already lost too much time by searching for the right spot to get down that damn slope, while avoiding the guards constantly. It was really risky to try getting away with Kame, when the dark would stop covering their movements soon, but he just couldn´t bring himself to let the younger one remain in Grenet´s hands for even one more day.

He noticed that Kazuya´s voice was not only very quiet, but also constrained with some strange tension, and the reason for that bothered Jin. But getting out of the quarry was the first in line… A little concerned, he glanced at the Indian tied to the second stake; they didn´t need any unnecessary attention at all. But the red man remained absolutely still, with his chin falling down to chest and didn´t seem to take notice of anything around him.

Finally, even the last fiber gave in under the sharp dagger and Kame´s hands were free. The younger one sighed and collapsed. But Jin expected that and supported him circling an arm around his chest, while Kame´s chin fell on his shoulder.

Jin let the dagger slip into the sheath on his belt, hugged the slim form with the other hand as well and tried to look to Kame´s face: “Can you…” he started, but didn´t finish the question. He realized that his palms on Kame´s back were wet and brought one of them closer to his eyes to look at it. In the glimpse of a distant lantern, he saw that it was of a bloody dark color.

“What the hell…?” he breathed out terrified and looked back at the stake. And then, with widened eyes, he ran over the surface with his fingers. “That son of a bitch…”

Somehow, Kame collected himself a bit and used the support of Jin´s arms to straighten up: “It´s all right… I can walk,” he assured him whispering.

Jin gritted his teeth in silent anger and pulled one of Kame´s arms around his shoulders. Then they set off on a hasty escape towards the spot, which Jin had used for half-climbing, half-running down the hill, while the guards behind their backs were still chasing the horses all around the quarry.

Kame´s breathing was heavy and he kept stumbling on uncertain legs, but he managed to keep pace with Jin, who was searching through the shadows behind the buildings along the way, still expecting some gunmen popping out of there and noticing them. But in the end, the danger came from behind…

They were just a couple of meters from the rope; Jin could already see it faintly, the yellow line against the rocks. But suddenly, a single gunshot thrilled the silence in the valley. Without any warning, without any sign that would alarm them...

Jin cried out in pain, as his right leg buckled under him and sent him to his knees. He dragged shocked Kame along and they both ended up kneeling on the ground.

Jin knew that if he pressed a hand against his thigh now, it would get soiled by his own blood this time; he felt the warm trickles welling from the gunshot wound on his right leg. But his instincts worked and he reached for his revolver instead, while Kame pulled the second one from its sheath on the other side of Jin´s belt. But they managed to turn only half way, when a source of light appeared from behind the last building they were supposed to pass and three more bullets dug into the ground, just inches away from them, sending hails of sand into the air.

“I would _not_ do that, boys,” a tall figure popped out from the dark, as if the man was always there. And he was not alone. All around the speaker, one after another, the lantern lights appeared, being carried by other gunmen, who ran up to them from all directions. “Don´t make me kill you right away, that would be such a shame,” the shark smile gleamed in the play of flickering lights with the waning night.

Jin kept aiming at the speaker, who was definitely the one shooting him, but Kame´s hand wavered, when he noticed two other gunmen with rifles already right behind their backs.

“Jin…” he whispered hoarsely.

By the corner of his eye, the older one spotted their situation as well; they were screwed. Grenet was really waiting, with more guards hidden in the dark, expecting his foolish attempt to rescue Kame.

“Drop them!” Grenet hissed, coming closer in the circle of his underlings and he aimed his revolver at Kame, while looking at Jin. “Seems I´m out of practice… I was aiming for your knee, you little motherfucker. But I can try again with baby boy, can´t I?”

Jin stared into that face contorted with a disgusting smirk and wanted nothing more than for Kazuya to be somewhere completely else at that moment. He could clearly imagine destroying that smirk with a big bloody hole instead of Grenet´s nose, but the younger one´s presence stopped his finger on the trigger. He forcefully released his held breath and Kame noticed it.

Without a word, or even a glance between the two, both revolvers were lowered and thrown to Grenet´s feet. There was nothing they could do against those numbers, against all those barrels aiming at them, but to surrender.

“Good boys…” their odious enemy praised them caustically.

Only now, Jin looked at Kame kneeling next to him, meeting the other´s eyes right away.

 _Don´t give up…_ he tried to send Kame a silent message.

 _I won´t,_ the younger one´s look assured him.

“You´re earlier than I expected, Akanishi. But still – _expected_ ,” Grenet emphasized and gestured his men to capture them.

Four gunmen grabbed their arms and pulled Jin and Kame up on their feet roughly, making them both hiss in pain from different reasons.

“Take our pretty face back to the stake, I´m sure he misses it already,” Math Grenet started giving out the new orders with an awfully satisfied grin all over his face. “And tie our sharpshooter downstairs; I´m gonna get to him, once I have some sleep finally. The three of you – search the hills above the quarry, I´m sure he has that bloody stallion somewhere around. I want that beast _alive_ , is that clear? So, get moving!”

Everything squeezed inside Jin seeing Kame being dragged back to that awful thing. Their plan A failed and they both would pay for it, but he was much more worried for the younger one than for himself. Their only chance was Koki now…

***

 

Many hours passed since Grenet´s underlings dragged him into the spacious room on the ground floor of the main building of the quarry, encouraging him with kicks and hits on the way, and tied him to one of the chairs. The smelly space seemed to serve as the local taproom, with the long shelf filled with alcohol bottles behind even longer wooden board placed over two empty barrels, as some kind of substitute for a real bar counter. The room was also furnished with a few battered tables and chairs in even worse shape. The light was getting inside through two dirty windows, revealing the dust in the stinky air. Its lazy dance was stirred every time one of his two guards walked across the taproom, to grab another drink or just from pure boredom.

With the slowly flowing time, the quarry got busy; Jin could hear many voices outside, as well as the rumble of heavy carts and tools for mining. He also noticed the bell, which called all the workers for lunch and then for the next part of their shift again. His guards changed after that. They were heavy smokers and probably found funny to blow the smoke right into his face. Jin ignored them. He had enough to do with himself.

His leg hurt as hell, but didn´t bleed anymore. Grenet ordered one of his men to tie some rag around it; he obviously didn´t want his captive to bleed to death. He also had some bruises from the beating, but that was forgettable. He was thirsty though, more with each hour and that made him think about when was the last time Kame had something to eat or drink…

Jin expected that vicious bastard to enter the taproom any minute, but it was as if Grenet wanted to catch up on the sleeping deficit because of the night watch. During the long waiting, his anger hid itself somewhere deep inside, and the anxiety showed its teeth at him instead. He couldn´t stand when he could do nothing at all, just wait. And meanwhile, Kame was tied up to that damn stake.

“Who would say that you´re really as stupid as to run right into my hands?”

Paradoxically, Jin almost felt relieved, when he finally heard that mocking voice. All his senses woke up at once, and he held his breath for a while, when the jingling steps entered the room. And right after that he got horrified, when he noticed that the daylight was weakening again. No wonder his limbs were so stiff; Grenet let him ponder his cheerless situation for the whole day. And Kame… Kame was still out there…

Math Grenet moved another chair to place it right in front of Jin and gestured one of his goons, that young boy, about whom Jin had a feeling that he had already seen him before, to prepare a drink for him. Then his cold eyes focused on the tied gunslinger again.

“What a rare visit you two made,” Grenet grinned, as he crossed his legs, making himself comfortable. “I hope you find your accommodation nice enough?”

The anger was right back; Jin felt it boiling in his stomach and then also in his chest. Just looking at that bastard was awakening his darkest emotions. He clenched his jaws and didn´t react, trying to find any kind of balance in that whirl, which appeared inside him and brought back everything that he would rather forget.

Grenet emptied a glass of whiskey, which he accepted from that familiar boy and pushed it right back into his hand: “One more, I´m thirsty after that nap.”

The thin boy nodded and headed back behind the ´counter´.

“Sorry to make you wait,” the former deputy sneered. “But I wanted to be fresh for you… Not to mention that our pretty face needed more time to cool down,” he added darkly.

Jin clenched the restraints of his chair, to which his wrists were tied, feeling an urge to bury his heel to that hundred-time-damned smile.

“Both of you used to be more talkative,” Grenet snorted. “Aren´t you happy to see me again, Akanishi?”

“Have you ever seen yourself?” Jin grunted through the clenched teeth.

“That wasn´t very polite,” the gunman finished another glass in one go and impatiently demanded a cigarette. “You´re as cheeky as your girly friend.”

For his own inner amusement, Jin felt even proud to hear it. He could imagine that Kame didn’t give Grenet anything for free, that was also probably why he was at that stake...

“Never mind…” Grenet noted lazily. “I´ve got time to play with both of you now.”

Jin hated that tone the gunman used, just as his whole being, but he could do nothing to release it, so he felt like suffocating on that feeling.

“I owe to both of you something, for all those troubles in Bozeman, but we´ll get to that,” the smoking man assumed. “First of all, are you gonna tell me where is all that cash you stole from Tabor?”

Jin stared at that bastard for a while. Grenet was interested even in that? But how could he…? _Ah, of course_ , he realized, _the newspapers. And seeing us together with my brother, he figured we were the part of it._

“Greedy, aren´t you?” he reacted in a disgusted tone.

“I take all I can get. It´s a very convenient rule, Akanishi, I guarantee it. So? Where is it?”

“I don´t have it, obviously,” Jin retorted.

Grenet leant forward: “Don´t play with me, or you will learn your lesson just as Kamenashi did,” he snapped threateningly. “I know you two joined the Black Riders. Helping out your little brother, huh? I suppose he has the money now.”

“Even if that was the case, I have no damn idea where he is,” Jin informed him coldly.

“Really? You had a fight or what?” Grenet smirked.

“Exactly,” he confirmed without hesitation. It was only for better if Grenet believed that they had not much in common.

“What about?”

“That´s not your fucking business,” Jin replied dryly.

Grenet just looked to the side, moved with his head a little and in the next moment, a well-directed blow hit Jin´s chin. He bit his tongue and felt the blood flooding his mouth.

“Seems I have to start with lessons again,” Grenet announced acting tired and got up. “Bring him,” he ordered someone and leant over the temporary bar, looking at Jin who just spat out blood on the floor. “You boys have no fucking manners at all…”

Very shortly after that, the steps of the guards returned and they were bringing in someone with them.

“Here…” awfully smirking Grenet gestured.

The gunmen dragged a little staggering young man alongside Jin and before they turned him, he got to see his teared and bloody shirt. And then also his face… Jin´s heart skipped a beat. Kame´s head was lowered, but still it was visible how pale he was and his lips dry. He hung in the grip of the guards, as if he was not able to stand himself.

“This is such a nice view,” Grenet evaluated quite amusedly. “To have both of you here together. Finally, we can set the bill, boys.”

Jin ignored him and kept trying to catch Kame´s look, but he couldn´t even tell if the younger one had his eyes open or not, with the hair falling deep into his face.

“I must say I´m impressed how quickly you rushed for our baby boy´s rescue, Akanishi…” Grenet let the smoke from another cigarette fill his lungs. “He has a pretty ass, that´s for sure, but to be so eager to jump into the pit right away?” he pierced Jin with his eyes. “But you have always been kinda fool, right?”

It took Jin hell a lot of efforts to remain quiet. Grenet threw the rest of the cigarette away, gulped down another drink and pulled the dagger somewhere from behind his belt. Jin´s own dagger, to be precise.

“So, once again – where is that cash?”

Only silence replied him.

“Nothing? Not even you?” Grenet looked at Kame. Then he made a step closer to him, playing with the blade. “I bet you missed my company out there, baby boy, didn´t you?”

Grenet grabbed Kame´s chin and pushed his head up roughly. Kazuya´s eyes were open and in contrary to his appearance, there was a lot of life in them. And they were shining with the same hatred as Jin´s. The quarry´s boss laughed and sent both gunmen aside. Somehow, Kame remained standing and Grenet leant his hand over his shoulder.

“I bet you´re glad your _boyfriend_ arrived, aren´t you?”

For a second, Kame´s alarmed eyes flicked towards Jin and his dark expression made a step back to make space for fear. But Grenet was just obviously having a lot of fun.

“Should I let him watch while I play with you, what do you say?”

Jin saw, how Kame faltered under the pressure of Grenet´s elbow, how that disgusting bastard approached with the blade to Kame´s neck, how he whispered something right into Kame´s ear and how the younger one shivered. And the cup of Jin´s self-control overflew.

“Don´t touch him.”

The greyish look turned towards him with a vicious shine. Grenet was obviously drunk already, but that didn´t make him any less dangerous, more the contrary.

“Why?” he asked with a slimy smile. “You want to fuck him yourself?”

Such a strong repulsion and horror shook with Jin that for a second he forgot in what situation he and Kame were. The warning look of Kame´s eyes was not enough to stop Jin´s hatred from spilling out.

“Get away from him or I´m gonna fucking kill you, you damn piece of shit!!”

Math Grenet didn´t move or say anything for a moment. And then his lips spread in a victorious smile: “You. Kill. Me? In your dreams, Akanishi…” that creep moved away from Kame and slowly, as a predator, walked to Jin. “And you won´t see that even in those, because I´m bringing back your worst nightmare,” he emphasized with his face only inches from Jin´s.

Any other words stuck in Jin´s throat, when Grenet suddenly stood by the side of his chair and grabbed his elbow.

“It will be better to start with you anyway… Where did we end the last time? I see your nails grew back up quite nicely,” the gunman´s grin was almost devilish now.

Jin took a shaky breath; he couldn´t suppress the influence of the painful memories anymore.

“Shall we rip them off again? Or even better, let´s try the whole fingers. I wonder if _they_ would grow back,” Grenet laughed at his own disgusting joke.

Jin was flooded with horror, when he realized that Grenet was deadly serious. His throat was so squeezed that he couldn´t even talk, but Kame could.

“That´s enough!” the younger one´s voice was hoarse, but loud as he suddenly moved, staggering across the floor and almost reaching Grenet before two gunmen stopped him. “Let him be!”

“You´re cute, baby boy, but that´s not enough to persuade me,” Grenet reacted mockingly and let the blade run over Jin´s forefinger, just to leave a thin scratch behind, but still Jin felt how all the blood disappeared from his face. “There´s a lesson needed, right, Akanishi? So, which one goes off first? You choose.”

Kame struggled against the grip of his captors desperately, not making their task of holding him back easy at all: “Stop it, Grenet! Don´t do this!”

But that brutal criminal enjoyed the situation only more thanks to their reactions: “Unfortunately for you, baby boy, I can do whatever the hell I want with you two. This will hurt a little, Akanishi, but if you name it, you will know which one it´s gonna be.”

Jin was taking shallow breaths, not being able to find enough oxygen in the stiff air and didn´t utter a word, while those devil eyes were laughing at him.

“No? You can´t decide? Okey, I´ll pick one then! This will be fun. Hold him,” Grenet ordered Marty standing behind the chair.

Jin felt a hard grip on both his shoulders pushing him down and then a disgusting touch of that bastard. A damn cold knife reached to his fingers again and he was about to vomit.

“No!” Kame yelled. “I´ll do what you want, just stop!!”

The sharp blade stopped moving, but it remained pressed against Jin´s pinky finger. Grenet raised his head and his predatory look pierced Kame, whose eyes were wide and dark.

“Now you´ve got my attention, baby boy…” Grenet´s grin couldn´t be any wider anymore. “What did you just say?”

“Don´t hurt him…” Kame breathed out heavily. “And I will do whatever you ask.”

Finally, Jin pushed away the anxious image of his fingerless hand and grasped the meaning of those words: “Kame… no…” he gasped.

“Ssh, Akanishi, it´s seems he really likes you, so you should just shut up.”

Grenet hid the knife and then he made two steps closer to Kame.

“Sounds interesting, baby boy. We may have a deal… So, if your precious Akanishi´s fingers remain unharmed, you´re willing to become my toy?”

“Yes…” Kame replied in an unsteady voice.

“You will do _anything_ at all?” Grenet continued asking, as if it was not enough for him.

The younger one´s posture suddenly slackened and he closed his eyes, as if he wanted to avoid Jin´s wide look.

“Yes,” he confirmed quietly.

Grenet burst out laughing: “Bloody hell, I didn´t even imagine how amusing you two will be! Let him go, guys, he will be obedient now, right?”

Jin felt sick again, when Grenet placed an arm over Kame´s shoulders and the younger one didn´t move away despite being free now.

“Oh my, you love him, don´t you, baby boy?” it seemed that Grenet was full of self-amusing jokes for that evening. “What a heartbreaking love story we have here, what do you think, guys?“

Grenet´s underlings laughed obediently enough, only that young McFly boy didn´t seem to be very amused and he didn´t even bother to pretend it. Kame kept silent, resignedly bearing Grenet´s closeness and staring at the dirty floor.

“You should be really grateful, Akanishi, you know?” Grenet focused at Jin again with an awful smirk. “Nothing could break him, only _you_.”

Grenet´s words resonated in Jin´s head and awoke a dull pain in his chest. That was right; Kame would not have given up his resistance against Grenet´s demands if not for his arrival. Anything what was about to happen to the younger one from that moment on, was his own fault, only his.

“Let´s move somewhere else, baby boy. It took you long enough already,” Grenet pushed unresisting Kame to the side roughly, away from the bar.

Horrified Jin found some breath to speak again: “It´s me you want your revenge on, right?! So, bring it on, you son of a bitch!”

The insult earned him another hit from sturdy Marty, so strong that Jin had a suspicion he would pay for it with one of his teeth.

“Correction, Akanishi – I want to _repay_ , both of you,” satisfied Grenet turned to him from the stairway clutching Kame´s elbow painfully. “And for this moment, baby boy gave me a way better offer for that than you. Guys, be nice and make him company until I´m back.”

Before Grenet hustled the younger one up the stairs, Jin managed to catch the last look of Kazuya´s eyes. And those eyes belonged to someone, who was reconciled with his fate, but at the same time, they were filled with that loving warmness, which always made Jin feel blessed.

*

Once some unseen door upstairs closed with a heavy slam, Jin realized that he was shaking despite being immobilized by the firm ropes. One part of him couldn´t believe that this was really happening, while the other was going crazy with worries for Kame. He had already felt helpless a few times in his life, but that was nothing comparing to what Jin felt now… Kazuya was going to sacrifice himself for him and there was nothing he could do about it.

Grenet´s underlings were messing about around the taproom, snorting some quiet remarks on their boss´ address. They all ignored him except for Marty, who settled in the chair used by Grenet before and literally stared at Jin, as if the gunman was waiting for Jin´s attempt to escape or what, which was totally impossible.

Jin was trying hard to regain some composure, but it was a heavy task with his mind filled with imaginations of what Grenet might be doing with Kame. He was almost literally choking with anger on his own stupidity and wondered what the hell happened to Koki and their plan B. What was the Rider doing for the whole damn day?

He didn´t realize that he was clenching his fists so hard that his nails hurt the skin under them to blood. He was subconsciously trying to catch some sounds from the upstairs, where Grenet led Kame, but he didn´t hear a thing. That silence was unbearable, but he thought so only until some noise was actually heard. A sharp smacking sound and then a hollow hit, as if something or somebody fell on the floor. His guards raised their heads, but since there was no yelling from their boss coming, they returned to their whiskey and cards right after that.

Jin´s head was spinning, his inners clenching with anxiety and his heart was overfilled with fear. His Kazuya was getting hurt, only a few meters away, and he was just sitting there, doing nothing. Jin was falling into the pit of helplessness and it felt as if there was no way out of it.

*

Kame tried to calm his mind down, while being led up the stairs, and then inside one of two small rooms squeezed between the taproom and the ´office´ at the top floor of the building. But it was not possible.

He was too exhausted from the whole day spent tied up to the stake and too shaken by the confrontation between Grenet and Jin. He couldn´t stop the inner shivering, which got stronger with his imagination running ahead of time, showing him what was about to happen in that dark room. The strong grip, which made him feel like a trapped animal, disappeared, when Grenet turned to close the door.

His tormentor put down a kerosene lamp, which he took from the wall in the corridor and walked to the window, lighting up a cigarette on the way. He leant over the windowsill and buried his eyes into Kame, who remained standing near the door.

Trying to focus his mind on Jin, who was, at least for the moment, spared from Grenet´s horrible ideas, Kame took a breath and repaid that calculative stare. And somehow, to his own surprise, he managed not to falter. He felt more anxious with each second, but he was not afraid. His hate towards that evil man was greater than any fear.

Even though he didn´t glance that way, down to the man´s hips, he knew that Grenet still had his gun belt. There was a revolver and a dagger on it. If not for Jin downstairs, Kame would have jumped for it right away no matter the consequences. Just looking at Grenet´s satisfied smile made him feel sick.

“I must admit I was really looking forward to this, baby boy. You tried so hard to avoid me, you resisted so much, but look at you now…” Grenet stated mockingly. “I´ve told you I´m not done with you.”

Kame didn´t react; he was saving up his strength and despite looking directly at Grenet, he was also trying to pay attention to his surroundings, searching for anything in the room, which would help him get rid of that bastard noiselessly. He had no intention of submission to Grenet for real. There was no way he would believe the word of somebody like him. Grenet was planning to keep torturing Jin, no matter what Kame would do to please him.

Out there, while they were kneeling on the ground, he silently promised Jin not to give up. They still had hope; they still had a chance to get out of this. Unless his own sight deceived him downstairs and that face he glimpsed in the window was really Koki, all he had to do was to play for time. Kame was sure that the blonde Rider would not leave them in the lurch for long. So, his biggest issue was Grenet now. He couldn´t use a gun, even if he got his hands on Grenet´s revolver; that would alarm the others downstairs. He had to figure out another way…

“Does he fuck you?” the question was so sudden, that Kame was not able to cover his surprise. All that time Grenet mocked their possible relationship, but this time it was such a straightforward guess… “He does, right?” the gunman smirked. “I wouldn´t guess Akanishi for that, really, he definitely liked girls back in Bozeman. But he seemed just a bit too upset about an idea of me _molesting you_.”

Kame constricted his lips, trying to keep his breathing steady. It was like Grenet knew precisely what to say to get him out of balance.

“It´s something about _you_ , baby boy, you know?” the man continued, enjoying his dominance over the situation. “I doubt Akanishi would ever even _think_ about touching a man, if not for you. It´s just that you´re so _fucking pretty_.”

Kame stood there thunderstruck. He knew that he just should not listen to that crap, but still it sow doubts in him, just a seed, which was definitely about to bother him later…

“Will you show me what you did to seduce him?” the smoking man challenged him.

“You´re disgusting,” swinging on the waves of emotions, Kame couldn´t stop himself from reacting.

Grenet´s expression darkened: “Still not obedient enough, baby boy… Get undressed,” he ordered him without any smirk. “Now,” he emphasized, when Kame didn´t move right away.

Very slowly, as he wanted to delay the inevitable, Kame raised hands to the buttons of his shirt, while the gunman never stopped watching him. He lowered his eyes while doing it, trying to estimate the distance to the chair and table at the wall, and also between himself and Grenet. He pulled the shirt down, not being able to suppress the painful hiss, when the cloth tore some of the scabs on his back.

“You can keep those, for now,” Grenet stopped him suddenly, when Kame reached for his trousers.

The gunman doused the rest of his cigarette, unbuckled his own belt and threw it at the small table impatiently, along with the colt and dagger. Kame´s eyes glanced that way only for a tiny imperceptible moment.

“On your knees, baby boy,” Grenet stated in a tone, which didn´t let space for any objections. “I´m curious what else you can do with that tongue of yours except talking…”

This time, Kame´s stomach really threatened him with vomiting its non-existing content out. He couldn´t bring himself to move even an inch.

“Or you´d rather us to return to your boyfriend? And this time, I would let _you_ choose, which finger to take as the first one,” Grenet growled impatiently.


	39. To the limit

**W** hen Kamenashi pressed his lips together into a thin line, not reacting to the suggestion, Math knew that he hit the right note again. That brat was so easy to manipulate, when he could use Akanishi as leverage. Who would say that the two of them would end up being so dependent on the other?

The half-naked youngster made three steps forward, obviously forcing himself to it. It was such a damn good satisfaction, making Kamenashi do whatever he said, and it was about to get even better… The cocky boy deserved nothing more than a proper lesson to remember his place.

Math unbuttoned his trousers lazily: “The more you try my patience, the more it´ll hurt you, baby boy. I said - _on your knees_ ,” he repeated smirking, knowing that it was going to hurt the younger one later either way.

Finally, Kamenashi lowered his gaze and kneeled in front of him. But Math noticed there was something in those hazelnut eyes, what he didn´t like. That brat was not as submissive as he pretended to be. Even though there was nothing he could afford to do without putting his foolish savior downstairs in danger, those eyes of his didn´t belong to somebody who had given up… Not yet.

Kamenashi pulled the loose trousers down slowly, with his hands visibly shaking, as he reached for Math´s cock. The youngster´s fingers were cold, but damn soft and pleasant, definitely not unexperienced. Math couldn´t prevent another satisfied smile; he was going to enjoy this boy so much…

All the sudden, Kamenashi was not on his knees anymore, but in a middle of a jump towards the table, on which rested Math´s belt.

“You little…” he gasped.

Although Math was well aware that both Kamenashi and Akanishi hated him, since one would have to be blind not to see it in their eyes, the intensity of Kamenashi´s attack still surprised him. The baby boy went after him with a real intent to kill.

Math managed to raise his arm at the last second, and the blade cut through the skin of his hand, right above the elbow, instead of his neck. Kamenashi was damn quick despite being tied to the stake for the whole night and day.

Blood flew through the air and stained Kamenashi´s face and chest. Math hissed in pain, the younger boy breathed out heavily and immediately attacked again. But this time, he was too slow. Naturally, he couldn´t have strength for more than one full attack.

Math caught his wrist, averted the blade away, and twisted Kamenashi´s hand backwards. Even though the younger one was almost crying from pain, he managed to kick Math a few times, before the dagger fell to the floor. Math turned him harshly for a better angle and with all his strength he slapped Kamenashi over the face. The blow sent the weakened youngster to the floor with a heavy thud.

After checking the minor cut, Math bent to that brat, who was trying to get up, and grabbed his hair, pulling him up. From some stupid reason, Kamenashi was suppressing the loud cries, and he was just hissing quietly. But Math would _make him_ cry, he could bet on it. Though, he was quite impressed by how much resistance remained in Kamenashi.

Breathing heavily, he shifted the boy and literally threw him onto the bed. Kamenashi tried to roll away to the other side, but Math was already on him, slapping his face again, so hard that the blood appeared on the youngster´s lip.

“You can just as well as give up,” Math snorted, pinching the slim thighs down to the mattress with one of his legs. “You won´t get away from me, you little brat.”

It was almost incredible, but Kamenashi still fought back. His fist almost reached Grenet´s face, before he clenched both the younger one´s wrists and pushed them down. And still, Kamenashi kept swirling under his weight, trying to get out from under his conqueror. It didn´t surprise Math, when he found it quite arousing, feeling his cock hardening quickly. He was waiting for this opportunity for too long.

“Either you´ll be a good boy right now, or I´ll go back down to shoot Akanishi´s head off!” he snapped to the flushed face.

The slim body suddenly froze: “You won´t,” Kamenashi opposed hoarsely.

Math lowered his head, looking right into those strangely deep eyes: “And what´s going to stop me?”

“I will, obviously,” the youngster reacted, in a voice which was dripping with disgust.

Amused by that foolish defiance, Math grinned: “Well, I can do some shooting any time, but I want to enjoy you _right now_ ,” he admitted, pushing his knee between Kamenashi´s legs. “And I will either fuck you here or down there right in front of your boyfriend. Your choice.”

*

That dark look, which Marty attracted to himself by kicking the occupied sturdy chair, would have discouraged anyone from messing up with this gunslinger. But the fact that Akanishi was unarmed, tied up and helpless as a baby was weakening that effect quite a lot.

“You seemed to be pretty much off,” Marty snorted tauntingly. “And you don´t wanna miss anything, do you?” he added nodding his head upward to the second floor.

“Screw you,” their captive reacted harshly.

Only briefly, Marty considered if hitting Akanishi again was worth getting up from his chair, but since the youngster obviously didn´t care about himself as much as about his womanish friend Kamenashi, he remained sitting.

After that noise from before, which sounded as a proper slap followed by someone´s fall to the floor, nothing else was heard from the upstairs too clearly and Marty was kind of grateful for that. As far as he was concerned, Grenet´s perverted appetites were disgusting and he didn´t yearn to know more about them than he already did.

The former Karnaka´s gunman didn´t bear any love towards those two Montana boys. Basically, they were the reason why also he had to leave his hometown, being ordered to accompany Grenet. But his current boss, that was a completely different story.

Math Grenet hated Akanishi and Kamenashi to the core. Marty stopped counting the man´s speeches about what he would do to them as a payback long time ago. Their chief was literally obsessed with those two. If Marty was not used to it, he would consider that scene with possible fingers-cutting and emotional blackmail quite ugly and that was only the beginning. He almost pitied the two boys, but only _almost_.

“Danny, bring me one drink over here. Let´s improve this boredom…” Marty stretched both hands above his head. Since there was no reaction, he turned and frowned. “Danny!”

The boy leaning his elbows over the primitive bar counter, with the chin in his hands, flinched only now, hearing the raised voice.

“Stop spacing out and get me some whiskey, pronto!” Marty repeated annoyed.

Their little dogsbody seemed as if he wanted to refuse his demand at first, but then Danny reconsidered and turned to the shelves with alcohol.

Marty returned his attention to the silent cheeky gunslinger. Akanishi seemed to ignore his surroundings again, with his head leant to one side as if he was trying to catch some inaudible sound. He was an unexpectedly boring company.

The gunman looked around to check if his drink was on the way, when he smelled something. Frowning, Marty checked the whole taproom, if the others, who played a poker game at one of the tables, didn´t spill some liquid, but there was nothing extraordinary on the floor. But he was sure there was kerosene in the air... And then Marty´s eyes widened, when he noticed a strange light behind one of the windows.

“Shit!” he jumped up from his chair, rushing to look out.

“What´s up, Marty?” one of the players asked placidly, while Danny remained standing in the middle of the step, bringing the requested drink.

“Fire, you idiots! Fire!” Marty yelled, already running towards the exit. “Grab some buckets and get Grenet!”

*

It took a huge effort, but in the end Kame stopped fighting back. Panicking would not help him, neither provoking Grenet to that extent that the man would fulfill his threats. He held his breath, closed his eyes and let his hands lie in the hard grip without any resistance.

“Finally got it, baby boy?” Grenet commented his reaction breathlessly, hovering above Kame with a creepy smile on his lips.

Kame focused on getting at least some of his composure back and didn´t react. Grenet released a hold on one of his wrists, only to head with his right hand across Kame´s chest and stomach.

“I bet you will even like it,” that creep promised him hoarsely, pressing his palm against Kame´s crotch. “You´re that type who just _needs_ to be fucked. Maybe that´s why Akanishi´s so fond of you,” he laughed sardonically.

Kame took a shaky breath and kept silent. Listening to that voice without seeing the man was maybe even worse. He could literally feel that Grenet meant every and each word he said. He enjoyed fooling around not only with Kame´s body, but also with his mind.

“And I´m quite good at fucking the brains out; Danny could tell you whole stories about it,” Grenet continued, obviously fond of something as well – of his own voice.

He also let Kame´s other wrist go and hastily unbuttoned his trousers, roughly pulling the cloth down his hips. Kame gulped down heavily, suddenly feeling cold and as sick as never before in his life. He heard as Grenet undressed himself and leant to Kame again, moving to the side. When Kame felt a short touch of the man´s hard erection on his thigh, it made his throat squeeze with suffocating anxiety.

“On your stomach, baby boy,” Grenet ordered in a hoarse voice, as he already pulled Kame by arm, to roll him over. Trying hard to stay calm, Kame let him, ending up with his face in putrid bedsheets. Grenet´s hand groped his bottom cheeks greedily. “Such a sweet ass, it would be a shame if it was only for that bastard.”

With each next word Grenet let out of his ugly mouth, Kame felt more and more agitated. He let that feeling accumulate, held onto it as his anchor and waited, patiently, desperately ignoring the excited, disgusting touches between his legs. He already managed to steady his breath, and to clear his head a bit. His heart was far from steady pounding, but the ability to think clearly and consider his and also Jin´s options, if he didn´t succeed, was more than enough.

Forcing his knees between Kame´s legs, Grenet made him spread them, and placed both hands on his hips. He lowered himself and his lips almost touched Kame´s ear, when he spoke this time: “I will fuck you so hard you will never forget it, baby boy.”

That was the line Kame was not willing to cross. The extent of what he was somehow able to allow Grenet do to him had just reached its limit. There was only one word in that statement, which he could accept – never. _Never_.

Kame gathered all the strength he had left, and before Grenet could finalize his perverted intention, he pushed himself up on his elbows and knees violently, nudging the horny man up and away from him. Sudden resistance surprised Grenet and he lost his balance. The man fell to the side, rolling over the edge of the bed. As he waved one of his hands, searching for some support, he dragged Kame with him and they both ended up on the floor with a heavy thud.

Still filled up to the bones with anger and disgust, Kame didn´t waste a single second. Even though his head was spinning a little from the sudden exertion, he was right back on his feet. Not caring at all about stepping on Grenet´s abdomen on the way, he jumped for Jin´s dagger, which was still lying on the floor under the window after his first attempt to get rid of his tormentor.

Only then Kame turned back, more than ready to disembowel that disgusting bastard as fish. But Grenet didn´t move from the floor so far, and his eyes were closed.

With the dagger ready, heavily breathing Kame made a step closer only very carefully, in case that Grenet was faking it and then he noticed blood on the corner of the small nightstand, which obviously served as an ashtray. Kame looked down at Grenet again and there was a thin trick of blood from under his head. Grenet must have hit the heavy wood during the fall from the bed and seemed to be unconscious now.

That was such a sudden turn of events that it left Kame standing there dumbfounded for a moment. Only some quick steps in the corridor tore him out of it. Somebody was coming towards the room...

*

The flames brightening the originally peaceful night caused quite a turmoil. Very silently now, Jin watched as almost everybody ran out of the taproom, except for that McFly boy, who ran upstairs for Grenet and one gunman, who remained inside as his guard.

Through the open door behind his back, Jin could hear Grenet´s underlings yelling at each other as they were trying to get the sudden fire in a warehouse next to the main building under control. It didn´t seem they were very successful though, as the sinister glow behind the windows was getting stronger and the temperature inside the taproom higher.

His only guard paid more attention to what was happening outside than to the captive, but that didn´t do him any good anyway. Jin once again considered the options of freeing himself, but since his ties were so tight that it felt like all the blood stopped flowing to his hands and feet, it was not worth even trying. If he didn´t want to hop across the whole room with the chair glued to his ass…

Then Jin realized something suddenly and glanced up the empty stairs. That thin boy was not returning… He looked back at his guard just in time to notice some shadow from behind the empty barrels being materialized into a person. After two quick quiet steps, that miraculous figure bashed Jin´s guard over the head with a huge metal pan. The guy collapsed to the floor, which fortunately was not heard in that ruckus from the outside.

The attacker threw the pan away and rushed to Jin with a knife ready in his hand.

“What the fuck took you so long?!” Jin snapped at the blonde Rider as a welcome.

Koki put on a hurt grimace: “You have no idea what I´ve been through,” he reacted indignantly and started cutting through the ropes hastily. Only then Jin noticed that the Rider´s clothes were not so dark anymore, but covered in yellow dust and also smelled of kerosene. “Where´s Kame?” Koki asked, when he was done with Jin´s ankles and continued with ties around his wrists.

“Upstairs…” Jin replied in a strained voice.

His fellow Rider looked at him questioningly.

“Grenet,” the older one gritted through his teeth. “I don´t know what happened up there, but he still might come down here any second! Just hurry up!”

*

Once he had started to fight, Kame was not going to stop that easily. Just hastily pulling his trousers up across the hips, he got ready right next to the door, which opened after a short, sharp knock.

“Chief! We´ve got a…!” McFly didn´t finish, since the empty bed took the words from his lips.

Kame used that moment of surprise fully and threw the boy against the wall, closing the door with a kick on the way again. Then he pressed the blade tightly against McFly´s neck, who stared at him in utter shock, not being able to put up any defense.

“You… you didn´t let him…” Danny breathed out.

“Of course not!” Kame reacted heatedly, still riding on a wave of angry adrenaline. “I´d rather die than to be that monster´s bitch!”

The boy seemed thunderstruck, but Kame couldn´t care less about what McFly thought.

“Anyone else is coming up here?” he demanded sharply.

“No, everybody rushed out,” the boy replied bluntly. “There´s a fire, they sent me for Math…”

Now Kame finally realized what was bothering his senses for quite a while – the worsening air. The sudden blaze couldn´t be a coincidence, not right at this moment. But if the fire spreads, they might be in danger as well, especially Jin who couldn´t move.

“Did you…” McFly started hesitantly, as if he was afraid to continue. “Math… Is he…?”

“I doubt that,” Kame retorted rather harshly. “You can stay with him and check it out yourself, anyway.”

Then he pulled the boy away from the wall, took a small colt from his belt and shoved him towards the bed. McFly would find his ´Math´ behind it soon enough.

“I recommend you to just sit tight and shut up here,” Kame emphasized to the still astonished boy, grabbed his shirt, slipped out from the room and locked the door behind him.

*

After Jin was finally free, he was on his feet right away. But if not for Koki grabbing his arm and supporting him, he would have fallen back to the seat.

“Easy, tough guy,” Koki urged on him, glancing at his blood-stained trousers. “You don´t look so well.”

Jin just hissed something incomprehensible. It took several painful seconds to make his limbs move on their own, considerably shorter time than it would have been expected, but Jin was so focused on finding Kame as soon as possible, that he absolutely ignored his own condition. He was on the move and at the stairs even before Koki. They couldn´t waste any second now. Not only that someone might have noticed that something was off any moment, but Jin was also going crazy from the ideas about what might have been going on the second floor.

Jin ran up those never-ending stairs, turned into the short corridor and bumped into somebody. He staggered, surprised by the sudden weight in his arms, while the other one pulled away alarmed, raising his head.

Two widened and bewildered looks connected and once they recognized each other, the equal amount of relief appeared in them.

“What about Grenet?” Jin didn´t forget about their tormentor and his eyes searched through the rest of the corridor.

“Inside,” Kame reacted shortly, showing him the key, which he was squeezing in his hand. “I locked him there with McFly.”

The dark eyes got back to him, looking at his unbuttoned shirt and loosely pulled trousers: “Are you…?”

“Fine,” Kame said quickly, even though it felt as the greatest lie of his life. “You?”

“All fingers in place,” Jin assured him.

“Good…” the younger one breathed out.

“We must get out, guys!” the blonde head popped from behind the corner. “Leave the smooching for another day!”

“Very funny,” Jin snorted.

“Koki!” Kame looked at the Rider gratefully. “So it _was_ you…”

“Thank-you-speeches also later,” Koki grinned at him. “Let´s go!”

 

Naturally, it was easier said than done.

Koki brought a spare revolver for Jin, so all three of them were armed now, but it would not be enough if they were noticed during their escape. They could only hope that the fire would keep all present gunmen too occupied.

Once they rushed down the stairs, though it was more like stumbling in case of Kame and Jin, they found the rectangle of flames instead of the exit. The whole taproom was quickly filling up with smoke.

“Damn, didn´t you…” Jin coughed heavily. “…overdo it a bit?”

“Yet you still complain,” Koki mumbled from behind the sleeve, which he was pressing against his nose and mouth. “Follow me!”

There was a small kitchen behind the taproom, with an open window, which Koki apparently had used for getting inside the building. Fortunately, the main uproar around the fire was behind the corner. The blonde one climbed out as first, and then kept an eye on their surroundings, while Jin and Kame helped each other to get outside as well. Crouching, all three Riders ran to the cover of another nearest building, which looked like some shed for tools. It hid them well enough, as they checked on the situation.

It seemed that Grenet´s men managed to put down the flames in the small warehouse, but the fire jumped further and now they were running around the main building like ants, still splashing the water from buckets. Nobody seemed to care much about the lack of presence either of their boss or the prisoners.

“Did you use the same spot for getting here?” Jin asked Koki breathlessly, trying to relieve the weight from his wounded leg.

“No,” the blonde one shook his head. “I´ll explain it later. But our horses are up there, just as you wanted. Those lazybones gave up on searching quite quickly,” he added, evaluating the efforts of Grenet´s men to find the black stallion not very positively. “So, if Kuro is really _that smart_ as you said…” Koki made a significant pause.

“Sure, just as his master,” Jin snorted indignantly.

“Damn, we´re screwed then,” the blonde Rider reacted.

“Hey, shut up,” the older one snapped.

“It wasn´t an offense, just stating of the fact,” Koki informed him almost innocently.

“Which way do we need to take?” Kame asked stiffly, interrupting their bickering. He was very pale again, which was clearly visible even in the dark, as he was leaning on the wooden wall heavily.

“We need to evade _them_ …” Koki frowned at the fuss in front of the main building.

“Over there,” Jin showed. “Along the fence, it´s the way I used before.”

“It will be hard to cover up in all that light…” Kame noted looking at the flames, which had already started licking the narrow balcony at the second floor.

“We can make it if we´re quick,” the blonde one reacted, though his tone was somewhat forcefully cheerful.

Jin squeezed Kame´s shoulder gently, looking at him worriedly: “Will you manage? You look horrible…”

“I will,” Kame nodded quietly. “And I want us to make a stop along the way…”

“What stop?” Jin asked confused.

“We´ll take that Indian prisoner with us,” the younger one stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What?!” Koki yelped. “That´s crazy, Kame! I saw him; he´s half-dead!”

“Hush yourself a little,” Kame reminded him unmoved.

“Why?” Jin asked, not so surprised that the younger one cared about an unknown red man. “Why do you want to help him?”

Kame looked to his eyes with a serious expression: “I cannot let him in Grenet´s hands... If we´re getting out, we take him with us.”

*

It could not even be called a risk; it was pure foolishness. But from some reason, Kame insisted on his decision and rather than arguing with him, it was easier and faster to go along.

Somehow, they reached that horrible place with stakes unnoticed and both Koki and Kame made use of the knife and dagger again. Once the Indian had noticed that the guys untying him were not Grenet´s men, his black stare came to life and after a few meters, during which Jin and Koki literally dragged him towards the least brusque slope of the whole valley, he started walking almost all by himself. Which they considered a pure miracle, considering the condition the Indian was in. After that only Koki supported him, while Jin took care of Kame, whose pace was slowing down with each step.

It would be too good if their departure went along without any troubles, but fortunately, Jin´s instincts didn´t betray him this time and without any hesitation, he shot down a couple of quite upset riflemen, who chased after them, not even glancing back. The gun shots were definitely audible, so if anything, their time for escape had even shortened.

Once they got to the spot, which Jin had intended to use before they were captured by Grenet, the Rider looked up and whistled sharply. For a long moment, nothing happened.

“I knew it, we´re screwed,” Koki mumbled in a pessimistic tone.

“And I told you to shut up,” Jin reacted, his eyes focused on the slope half-hidden in the deep dark night, even though it was only a few meters high.

And then, a heavy stone fell down the slope so suddenly, that they all flinched except Jin.

“Good boy,” he smiled at the sight of the taut rope, which was tied to the rock.

“I can´t believe it,” Koki evaluated amazed.

“You don´t have to believe; just grab it and help the Indian up,” Jin snapped, already wrapping the rope around the waists of both men. “You have to remain on your feet, otherwise Kuro will drag you through the stones,” he warned them.

The stooping and heavily breathing Indian looked Kame questioningly, who translated it for him shortly. The red man nodded and held onto the rope as much as his weak hands allowed him.

Jin whistled again, the rope stretched almost right away and started to drag both guys up the slope. They struggled a little to remain on their feet, as they were literally forced to run up the hill.

“Can you do it?” Jin asked quietly.

“With your help,” Kame reacted heavily.

“All rig….” Jin didn’t finish as his jaw dropped at the sight of the rain of fire…

*

Saving that Sioux was more than just a right thing to do for Kame. There had already been enough material related to Grenet for nightmares in his head; he really didn´t need to add that poor Indian´s useless death to them. Especially, when the Sioux captive acted friendly towards him before, even though he didn´t have to care about any white man at all.

Once the Indian realized that the fellow prisoner understood his language, he talked to Kame a bit. And it literally kept the younger one sane, when he was worried sick for Jin and close to breakdown from the repeated and even worse pain in his back from being tied to that damn stake.

Kame _needed_ to help that red man, even if that meant a greater risk on their escape. He didn´t feel even a bit of remorse watching Koki helping the Indian up the slope. But then he had to stop looking up for a while, as he suddenly felt dizzy. Jin was watching him worriedly and he didn´t seem very convinced by Kame´s reassurance that he could make it. And then something attracted the older one´s attention.

Kame followed Jin´s widened look towards the sky above the quarry, which had just started resonating with battle cries and first deathly screams.

“The Sioux…” the younger one breathed out. That was the first explanation he could think of. The Indians were probably waiting nearby and they used the fuss around the fire for their attack.

“Perfect timing, seriously…” Jin murmured. “We need to get out _now_ ,” he looked up to the dark line of the top of the hill impatiently: “What the hell takes them so…”

His complaint was interrupted by the stone on the rope being thrown down again.

“It was about time… Let´s go, we´re like sitting ducks over here.”

Kame didn´t really feel for any climb at all, but if he would not force himself, they couldn´t make it. Just as before, Jin wrapped the end of the rope around his waist, then around his own, made a simple knot and held onto it with just one hand, still supporting Kame.

“Ready?”

Kame only nodded, trying to overcome his nausea, which was getting worse. Jin whistled for one last time and the rope started to pull them up just as Koki and the Indian before.

The small stones were slipping under their feet and didn´t make the ascent any easier. The fire arrows kept flying from the tops of the hills above the quarry and the furious gunshots could be heard from the entry way towards the camp.

Kame fought for each single breath, searching for the remaining strength, which he could not find. Not being for Jin, who was hissing painfully at each step because of the wounded leg, Kame would just probably let himself be dragged up over the ground. His head was spinning again and his legs felt like of a newborn foal.

“Hold on only a bit longer, Kazu…” Jin blurted heavily. “We´re almost there…”

*

The rope stopped pulling just under the sharp edge, almost exactly in the moment, when Kame could not take it anymore and leant over Jin fully, wheezing heavily and not being able to stand by himself. With his teeth clenched, Jin reached for the stony edge above them. Kame was not so heavy in general, but Jin wasn´t exactly at his full strength. He was not able to drag him the rest of the way up all alone…

Suddenly, two hands reached out from the dark and grabbed his desperately searching arm firmly. Jin looked up and in the firelight from the quarry he recognized his helper´s face.

“Leo…” Jin breathed out surprised.

His little brother smiled and then he looked back: “Guys! I need some help over here. My big Bro obviously put on some weight!”

Almost right away, there were other two pairs of hands, which reached out for Kame, took him from Jin´s desperate grip and pulled him up easily. Relieved from his precious burden, Jin could catch both Leo´s hands now and he clambered up with his help.

The top of the hill was a little more crowded than Jin had anticipated. Koki and Ryo had just let Kame sit next to the resting Indian, only a bit away from the edge. Jane was untying the rope from Kuro´s saddle to roll it back up and Jack was guarding obviously nervous Ukushi and Koki´s stallion. Cullen and Nick stood partially back to all of them, with rifles in their hands, watching around the perimeter. No Rider avoided glancing towards the shooting stars; the Indian attack was taking place unpleasantly close.

After Jin´s eyes ran over this whole scene, he turned back to Leo. He was really glad to see him, especially under the circumstances and he meant to say so, but then he remembered their last ´conversation´ and the words stuck in his throat. And Leo seemed to be hesitating as well.

For a while, none of them moved. The dark figures of two brothers remained standing on the background of the light from the quarry in turmoil.

“Jin… I…”

Before Leo could continue, a sharp sound was heard and an arrow stuck into the ground at his feet. Everyone except Kame, Jack and the Indian aimed their weapons at the darkness, which came to life with swift movements. But they very quickly realized that they were outnumbered.

Threateningly silent slim figures with long, feather-decorated hair appeared, one by one, almost twenty of them, and all of them with bows in their hands. The Black Riders were surrounded by obviously upset Sioux Indians.


	40. After-effect

**S** omeone was shaking with him in attempt to make his brain spill out from his ears. Whoever it was, he wanted to kick the darkest place of that idiot´s body and go back to sleep. But then he remembered that he hadn´t intended to have any nap; he had been looking forward to a good fuck.

Math Grenet opened his eyes. His sight was a bit blurry and it took him a while to focus on the face hovering above him. And it wasn´t Kamenashi…

“Chief!” Danny exclaimed. “Thank God, I already thought…” the obviously frightened boy was still clutching Grenet´s shoulders, but at least he was not shaking with him anymore.

“What the…?” Math murmured, surprised to find himself lying on the floor. His tongue felt heavy, as if he drank too much whiskey, which wasn´t the case this time. “Where´s… Kamenashi?”

Danny´s expression told him, that he wasn´t about to hear any good news, even before the boy spoke: “I don´t know, Chief. He took my gun and locked this room. I guess he´s hiding somewhere…”

“That little bitch…” Grenet growled, as he braced himself on his elbows and with Danny´s help he sat up.

“Can you move, Chief? We really _need to_ get out of here,” the boy urged on him worriedly.

“…course I can,” Math grunted. “Why wouldn´t I?”

“You hit your head quite badly…” Danny replied a little shakily, looking at the stained floor behind his boss.

Grenet reached out and touched the nape of his neck, where he felt a strange tingling since the moment he woke up. His palm was all bloody when he brought it back to his eyes.

“Shit… Help me up.”

The upset gunman used the support of Danny´s thin arms to get up on his feet, realizing that moving his limbs was more difficult than usually. The room started to spin around him, once he had straightened up.

“What the hell happened?!” he snapped at the boy.

“I… I don´t know, really! I´ve found you here like this!”

Grenet gritted his teeth in anger. The last thing he remembered was the white round ass ready to be fucked and after that… There was nothing but an empty blackness.

Kamenashi had to push him off again and he fell off the bed because of that, hitting that shitty piece of furniture, which belonged to Cameron, with his head. For that, he was not going to make that baby boy scream, but beg for mercy.

Then he noticed the strange noise from the outside and frowned: “Danny… What the fuck is _that_?” he asked looking at the thin trickle of dark smoke infiltrating the room through the gap under the door.

“Fire at the warehouse, Chief,” Danny explained hastily, still supporting him, since Grenet was staggering on unsecure legs. “It looks like it spread to this building. We need to get out somehow!”

 _Fire? What fire? What were those idiots doing while I was out?_ he wondered. It was difficult to put any thoughts together, when his head started to ache like hell…

A sudden nausea made Grenet bend at the waist and throw out the remains of his last meal – beans with sausages and some bread.

“Shit…” Math cursed again, as his head protested quite loudly against such a sudden movement. It was as if an army of red skins performed their stupid dance with drums right inside his skull.

Danny watched the older man rather horrified.

“Don´t stare at me like that and try to break out the door,” Math pushed the boy away and leant on the wall heavily.

“I already did, Chief… But the lock is too solid,” there was an unhappy reaction.

“Then check out the window and what´s under it!” he snapped impatiently. “Are you so backward or what?”

Danny almost ran away from him. As the boy opened the window and leant out, the cracking sounds of fire and yells in attempts to control it, got clearer.

“There´s a compost a little on the left, Chief…” Danny reported the result of the view. “But… it´s small and we´re at the first floor…”

“And? Do you want to let yourself be grilled here?” with his head spinning, Grenet carefully crossed the floor to the window and pushed the boy aside, to check on the situation himself. “It might work for you… Hurry up and jump out,” he pulled Danny back to the frame again. “And then get somebody to bring the sacs with flour or something under this window.”

The scared boy stared at him wordlessly.

“What?! You´re still _staring_ , Danny and this house is burning!” Grenet yelled and right after that he bent in another seizure of vomit.

***

 

“Ayúštanyo!”

At the sound of a hoarse voice, Indians´ fingers on the chords of their bows froze. The Riders held the positions with their weapons ready, but didn´t dare to make any suspicious movement. The scream came out from just recently freed Sioux, who was desperately trying to get up to his feet.

“Ayúštan!” he repeated urgently, when he finally stood up. “Awi le… mita cola!” the red man continued breathlessly, as he staggered two steps forward, getting on the same level as Cullen and Nick.

The figures in the dark didn´t react for a while, before one of them spoke incredulously: “Nepotonje?”

“Ai,” the exhausted red man replied in a relieved tone. “Théhan wančhín yankešni…”

The Indians started murmuring excitedly and then somebody lit up a torch, bringing it closer to the Sioux´s face carefully. Many surprised and delighted huffs followed.

Then the former Grenet´s prisoner turned to the armed Riders and said something. It could mean anything and they would never know what, if not for a certain young man, who had spent the whole years living among Indians…

“Lower your weapons,” Kame´s voice was heard, much weaker, but equally hoarse as the Indian´s. The youngster was still sitting on the ground, but he was listening to the Indians´ conversation carefully and translated the Sioux´s request to them.

“We won´t give up without a fight,” Ryo growled disapprovingly.

“Damn right,” Koki agreed right away.

“Don´t worry, they won´t kill us,” Kame assured them quietly. “That Indian belongs to them. He told them that… we saved him.”

“Are you sure?” Leo asked tensely. “I know that their language is quite difficult.”

Kame looked in the young leader´s direction: “I don´t understand everything, but this was pretty clear,” he confirmed.

“All right… Put them down, guys, but keep them ready,” Leo ordered, lowering his revolver slowly as the first. “And no unnecessary movements.”

“There´s too many of them anyway…” Cullen muttered under his nose, following Leo´s example.

The others, though not very willingly, also put their weapons down and made a step back, away from the Indians. Only after that the red men did the same, loosening the taut chords in their bows. Only third a mile away from them, the main part of the Sioux forces continued their attack on the quarry and the air was still filled with gunshots and screams.

Their Sioux speaker limped forward to end up in the supportive arms of his Indian brothers. When he started to explain something in an urgent voice, Kame shifted restlessly.

“Jin?”

The older Akanishi turned away from his brother hearing Kame´s voice, which was so weak that it brought chills all over his back. Burdening his throbbing leg as little as possible, Jin carefully avoided some sharp stones on the way, as he approached the younger one.

“Help me get up, please,” Kame asked him quietly.

Jin didn´t really agree with his boyfriend moving more than was necessary, but he figured that Kame was the only one who understood the Sioux language a bit and they needed his skills right now.

The blonde Rider also overheard the request and rushed to support the younger Rider from the other side. They both took Kame gently under his arms and raised him up on his feet. Jin could feel the shaking of the younger one´s body in effort to remain standing and that made him feel only more anxious about Kame´s condition.

“Kame?” also Koki observed his favorite cook worriedly. “Are you…”

“Fine,” the younger one interrupted him in a strained voice. “Let´s just… move slowly.”

The three of them approached closer to the encirclement of Indians cautiously, ready to retreat if it was necessary.

“Awi ka?” one of the Sioux, probably the leader of the group, very tall and - from what could be seen in the poor light of one torch - with the highest number of ornaments in his hair, just asked his rescued red brother.

“Miyelo ca kola,” Kame replied instead, as they remained standing in the hopefully safe distance. “Zunte, Math Grenet miye hohe.”

The curious stares of all Indians focused on Kame now, while anxious Riders watched the backs of three of their members with the mixture of hope and doubts.

“Nepotonje hahíyate. Tan kala… kaga da. Lakota kokipaka ganai,” Kame continued seriously, hesitating at some words, choosing them carefully. Lakota Sioux language was quite different from the one used by Blackfeet Tribe.

“Kaga,” the tall Sioux agreed darkly, evaluating Kame with his dark eyes. Then he looked all over the other Riders behind them. “Colapi ka?” he asked, pointing at them.

Kame nodded: “Ai.”

The tall leader nodded and then he talked shortly to his warriors. Half of them disappeared in the dark right away. Then the Sioux talked to Kame again. The more Jin heard from the language, the more he admired the younger one to be able to understand it. For him, it was just a pile of incomprehensible syllables.

“Philámayaye,” the younger one reacted thankfully to a short speech for the last time in the Indian language. “We can go back to the others now,” he said to Jin and Koki.

Leo, Cullen, Nick, Ryo and Jane were waiting for them standing in a small circle; only Jack didn´t move away from the horses, as the animals were quite startled.

“They will let us go,” Kame announced in a tired voice. “But we have to stay here under their watch until the attack on the quarry is over.”

“Ugh, that´s a relief,” Koki breathed out and immediately sat down on the ground, leaving Kame in Jin´s hands. “I´m done.”

But Leo frowned unsatisfied and Cullen didn´t seem very happy either.

“That´s not exactly convenient for us,” the Rider´s leader murmured, counting ten Indian figures around, who remained to watch over them.

“I don´t think we have another choice,” Jin spoke before Kame could think of a right argument.

“How can we be sure they´ll let us go after it´s over?” Cullen growled, staring at the impressive bows in the Indians´ hands.

“We can´t,” Kame replied sighing.

“Well, but we´ll definitely figure it out,” the Rider sitting on the ground assumed.

“I´ve really missed your careless remarks, blondie,” Jane noted sarcastically.

“I´m sure you´ve missed my whole being and you´re just afraid to admit it, sweetheart,” Koki reacted with a wide smile.

Ryo rolled his eyes: “Some things never change…”

“Especially not you kids,” Nick noted kind of annoyed. “I´ll go to calm Jack down, he didn´t hear a thing from this and he seems more nervous than the horses.”

Which was damn right, since a half of the Indians tactically gathered around the youngest member of the gang and their animals.

“Damn, but let me tell you that you look like shit,” Cullen evaluated in the rising dawn, observing the clothes and faces of the three runaways from the quarry. “Without a supervision for like how long? Two days? And _this_ is what we find.”

“It wasn´t exactly our fault,” Jin retorted.

“Try to use a more thankful tone, kid,” Cullen reminded him.

“Thank you… for coming,” Kame said before Jin could snap at the older Rider with something very ungrateful. “Just… Don´t do anything to… provoke the Sioux…” he pleaded. “They will…”

The younger one´s voice died out and Jin almost collapsed under the sudden weight in his arms, as he grabbed the falling body.

“Kame!” Jin feared Kame´s possible breakdown, and expected it, but it still squeezed his heart.

“Put him down, Jin,” the brunette was the first one to react and helped him to let Kame lie down on a coat, readily spread by Koki.

Jane checked Kame´s pulse and breathing, before she looked up to Jin: “It seems he just passed out…”

Jin slid down to the ground as well, already too tired to stand and ignored the clear question in the brunette´s eyes: _What happened to you down there?_

*

At daybreak, Jin found himself standing at the edge of the slope and staring towards the pile of black debris - the only proof left from the building, which added some new bad memories to the ones he had already had.

The quarry was very quiet now. The bodies of Grenet´s men lied all around, pierced by arrows. Some of them escaped, but the lives of at least half of them ended down there. For a fleeting moment, Jin considered if he should feel guilty for doing nothing to prevent such a massacre, but if he was honest to himself, he couldn´t find even a bit of remorse inside him. There were other people he cared about and those gunmen didn´t belong among them.

No Indian casualties could be seen, as their red brothers dragged them away already. Also, no quarry worker appeared yet and it was supposed to stay that way for another hour. Jin hoped that they would be long gone before that, as it was certain that somebody would call the Sheriff or the Army eventually…

Only a few meters behind his back, Kame was sitting on the ground again, very slowly sipping on water. It took less than ten minutes before the younger one regained his consciousness, but he didn´t look any better.

After Jane got horrified by checking the state of their wounds, she pulled out some disinfection and bandages and began to clean them quite drastically. Jin almost choked on suppressing the screams of pain, when the brunette poured the liquid all over his thigh. He could clearly imagine what it felt like for Kame, when Jane unmercifully proceeded to treat of his lacerated back. Watching the younger one´s face contorted in pain made him feel awfully helpless again.

Jin had also noticed a few significant looks, which Leo threw in his direction, but he ignored them deliberately – he didn´t really feel for another talk about his relationship. Ryo, Koki and Jack watched over the horses, while Cullen and Nick were cautiously checking on the situation down in the quarry as well as on their Indian guards. The Sioux were still there, surrounding them quietly, but it seemed they would not hold them back for much longer.

“It looks pretty much dead down there…”

Jin glanced to the side to find the blonde Rider, who joined him at the view.

“Yeah…” he agreed. “By the way, thanks for the rescue. Though I almost lost my hope in you.”

“Wow! I expected no gratitude anymore,” the blonde one reacted caustically.

“Everybody gets what everybody deserves,” Jin reacted calmly.

“Bah…” Koki snorted. “I hope that counts for that bastard too.”

“You mean Grenet?” Jin frowned.

“Naturally. If he remained in that room as Kame said, he´s dead.”

“He´s not.”

Koki looked at the older Akanishi rather surprised: “How can you be so sure? He couldn´t get out so easily; it´s highly probable he perished in that fire.”

“He didn´t,” Jin gave him another short answer. “I just know it,” he added darkly, looking directly at the ruins.

“Guys! It seems we will be free to go!” Ryo´s voice called after them.

When they turned, they could see Kame leaning on his mare and talking to the tall Sioux leader and his Indian buddy from the stakes.

“Can´t he just stay still for one damn minute?” Jin mumbled for himself irritated.

The blonde Rider watched the older Akanishi limping in his boyfriend´s direction with a rather amused expression. As if Jin was any different in that matter… But the truth was that Koki was worried about their Handsome as well. Kame was somehow able to move on his own, but his face was bloodless and he looked really ghastly overall. The sooner they all would get some rest, the better…

*

In the end, their Indian ´friends´ disappeared just as quickly as they popped out from the dark before. After a short talk between the two Sioux and Kame, the rescued Indian grabbed Kame´s arm in the gesture of gratitude, then they gathered all the warriors and retreated from the valley on quick unsaddled horses.

The Black Riders were finally allowed to leave as well. And it was really about time; they had already risked enough by staying on the hill with the view at the dead quarry for so long. Not to mention that considering Jin´s and Kame´s condition, they couldn´t move too fast or too far. Especially Jane insisted that they should stop at the first convenient spot to get some rest and proper treatment and Leo agreed without any objections. After a short counsel with Cullen, they decided to remain in the foothills, where they could hide better. Once they would head further east, in their original direction, they would have ended up to be too exposed in the plains.

As it turned out, there was no other option than this decision. Just a short ride south away from the sandstone quarry was enough to prove that both Jin and Kame were at their limits and if not for Ryo and Koki, who kept an eye on them, they would have fallen from the saddles as ripe pears from a tree.

They encamped in the pass of two hills just two miles southwest from Laporte. Jane managed to make Kame and Jin drink and eat something, before they both dropped off. Koki followed them just shortly after that.

No matter what noise the others did or how loudly they talked, nothing could wake the three of them up for the whole day. Nobody suggested that they should move on as quickly as possible, even though they all had their disrupted journey to Hereford on their minds. But no Rider had the stomach to tear those three off their needed rest. And everybody needed some relax as well, after rushing towards the quarry through the whole night…

*

Kame woke up covered in sweat and with his heart beating as crazy. He found himself lying on his side under the two blankets. He stared at a cluster of gnarled pines throwing long sharp shadows in the late afternoon, and listened to the known voices somewhere behind him.

Only after a couple of long seconds Kame was willing to admit that he was not in the quarry anymore. He took a few deep breaths to calm down, desperately trying to suppress the effect of that nightmare, in which he couldn´t defend against the harsh hands holding him down on his stomach, while something hard was trying to tear him apart from behind.

Finally, his heartbeat slowed down and Kame turned to lie on his back, finding the previous pain much bearable. He was still tired and his face didn´t feel right, as it was probably swollen after those slaps he got, but at least that awful nausea and dizziness seemed to be gone.

Kame turned his head to the side, searching for any other calming element. And he found it there in the form of Jin´s sleeping face. No matter the new bruises, Kame found that view more breathtaking than ever and it was hard to tear himself off it.

Carefully, as he still didn´t feel quite all right, he sat up to find the Riders´ leader, his girlfriend and the blonde one gathered around the tiny fireplace, discussing something. Jane was just throwing some herbs into the kettle with hot water and she was the first one to notice he had woken up.

Kame hadn´t even decided if he should try to get up on his feet or not and Jane already approached him with a tin cup full of hot digest from nettles, as he could tell by the smell.

“How do you feel?” she asked, as she kneeled to his side.

“Better,” he replied carefully, almost not recognizing own voice, how creaky it was.

“Here, drink it slowly,” Jane handed the cup over. “And there´s some fresh water,” she nodded towards the flask, which was lying between his and Jin´s blanket.

“Thank you,” Kame took the cup into both hands, pressing the palms against the warm material, but didn´t drink from it yet. He looked at the shadows around again. “You let us sleep for long…” he noted.

“Leo decided that we won´t continue until the two of you will be ready,” Jane reacted softly.

“But what about the medicaments for Hereford?” Kame felt bad about disrupting the whole journey to the city hit by the epidemic. The Riders had lost too much time by coming back for them…

“Don´t worry about it, Kame,” the brunette assured him. “Nick and Jack had already set off in advance, only the rest of us remained behind. Also, Cullen and Ryo are walking the perimeter, in case that the authorities would search that far. You can stay calm and rest,” Jane demanded with a smile got up on her feet again.

Kame didn´t have the strength for any objections, so he just watched Jane as she headed to their limited supplies. Then he felt someone´s glare and turned back towards the fire, where he found Leo looking at him with an unreadable expression. Kame gulped and rather lowered his eyes to the cup, which seemed to be a much better object of interest.

Everything happened so damn quickly and he was not ready to deal with anyone´s judgment now. At least, he was among his friends, under their watch, hidden in the mountains, as safe as he could only be under the circumstances… But still, he felt a strange tension, which made his hair stand. Maybe, it was only because of that dream…

Kame sipped on the hot tea carefully. It had quite an awful taste, but he appreciated Jane made it – he knew that it should help his body to deal with the blood loss.

Ukushi snorted quietly and Kame´s bad feeling was right back. He looked around again. The crackling fire, the soft wind in the trees nearby, Jane moving with the tin dishes, Koki bringing up the wood for fire, the other horses exploring the awakening ground under their hooves… Everything seemed to be just fine, only his mare was unsure about something. And he himself as well. He felt it as something bugging inside his head…

“Hello there…”

A deep, and a little unusually colored voice dragged Kame´s attention from his own stupid hypersensitivity to its owner. Jin was still lying on the ground, in the same position as Kame had found him when he woke up. Only his eyes were open and looking directly at him. Those dark, deep eyes, which always stirred something in his heart. And which felt as if they could see through any of his masks… Kame looked away hastily.

“Hi…” he reacted quietly. “How was your sleep?”

Jin sat up and yawned: “Not long enough,” he evaluated and then looked at the younger one again, this time more carefully: “What about you?”

Kame remembered the disgusting nightmare and subconsciously shuddered: “I´m better,” he used the same response as in Jane´s case, not really daring to evaluate his sleeping time truly.

There was only silence for a while.

“I´ve already told you not to lie to me,” Jin´s voice was more quiet now, but still the younger one heard it clearly, as the other leant forward to him.

Kame just glanced at him: “I´m not lying, Jin…”

The older one wanted to react, but he noticed some steps approaching them and he gulped the words down. Both of them looked up to the face of the Riders´ leader.

“Hi, guys,” Leo´s attempt to smile turned out to be a little anxious grin. “Once you feel up to it, I´d like to talk to you.”

*

The sun was just setting beyond the rocky hill, which covered their little camp from the north, when the three of them sat by the fire. Neither Cullen nor Ryo had returned from exploring the area yet and Jane dragged Koki away to their horses, to groom them properly. But despite having enough space for their private conversation, for a long while, none of them talked. They just listened to the blonde´s one loud complaints, that grooming horses was not created for his precious hands, which were already tired by saving the day by setting up the fire in the quarry.

Kame was huddled up in one of the blankets, looking a little absent-minded, while Jin was stretching his wounded leg towards the fire, sipping on water. Leo sat across from them, slowly breaking some dry sticks into smaller pieces. He created quite a pile from them, before he finally leant over his bent knees and looked at the other two.

“I´m sorry,” he stated seriously. “I overreacted, Bro.”

Jin didn´t say anything on that and just kept tossing the flask of water from one hand to another, while Kame was watching the flickering flames. Leo fidgeted uncomfortably.

“I was just too… surprised,” the younger Akanishi continued carefully. “I didn´t expect… something like that from you.”

Kame´s expression didn´t change even a bit, but Jin frowned a little. Neither of them reacted even this time.

“What more do you want me to say?!” Leo raised his voice impatiently, attracting the worried glances of Jane and Koki towards the fireplace.

Only then, Jin focused on his brother: “Two things. First, apologize to Kame, too.”

“I already did,” Leo murmured huffily.

Jin kept looking into his eyes without a word.

“Fine…” the Riders´ leader sighed and turned directly at Kame. “I apologize to you both. I overdid it.”

Kame repaid his look shortly: “It´s all right, Leo. I get it, why you reacted like that…” he said in such a strangely reconciled tone that it made Jin look at him curiously.

“And that second thing?” Leo asked.

“Tell me the truth,” his older brother demanded a little tensely, but relentlessly. “I want to know why exactly me and Kame being… together made you so angry.”

Leo stared at him for a moment before he looked away.

“Mainly because you kept it secret all along…” he replied quietly.

Jin observed the strangely sad expression of his brother: “Fair enough, and I apologize for that. But that´s not all, right?”

“No…” Leo sighed, focusing on the place, where his girlfriend and the blonde Rider pampered their horses with portions of oat. “It´s not something we usually talk about and… basically nobody except Cullen knows about it.”

Both Jin and Kame noticed that Leo was getting to a very difficult topic; the Riders´ leader was rarely so hesitant about what to say.

“I can leave you two alone, if you want to, Leo,” Kame suggested without any accusation. “You don´t have to…”

“No, stay here,” the younger Akanishi interrupted him. “I just… I want both of you to know, because… Damn it…” Leo half-covered his face for a moment, before he spoke again, quietly but this time without any hesitation. “Something happened to Jane in the past and she cannot bear children.”

The deep silence fell upon the fireplace. Both Jin and Kame didn´t really expect such an information.

“That´s… I´m sorry to hear that, Leo,” Jin ran a hand through a little overgrown hair. “It must be tough on her.”

“She had given up on having an own family long time ago, even before she joined us,” Leo threw another look in the said woman´s direction. “But it still hurts her…”

“That´s understandable…” his older brother reacted thoughtfully. “But… what does it have to do with…” Jin stopped talking, as he remembered a certain part of their argument in Fort Collins and realized what was probably on Leo´s mind.

“Look, I was thinking too much ahead, Jin,” the younger Akanishi rushed to assure him about his current attitude. “I love Jane and I won´t leave her because of something like that. But… when I realized that I might never going to be a father, naturally I thought that I´d like to be an uncle, at least. And I just couldn´t help it and be… disappointed when it turned out that you two… You know what I mean,” Leo finished his speech rather helplessly. “I realize that it was a hasty conclusion…”

Jin stared at his little brother, who suddenly didn´t seem to be so ´little´ anymore. It was hard to comprehend with the fact, that Leo was thinking so much ahead of time and so seriously. It never occurred to him to think about his relationship with Kame from that point of view…

“Wow… Now you got me,” he blurted out. “You´re _twenty_ , Leo. I wouldn´t expect that you´d like to have a family and a farm by the stream already,” Jin tried to joke a little.

And partially it worked, at least Leo chuckled sadly: “You know, circumstances… Sometimes, they make you think about various things.”

“That´s… quite true,” Jin admitted and glanced at Kame. If anything, the younger one was even paler than before and very silent.

“But still, I shouldn´t drag this into… my reaction before,” Leo continued, now bolder. “It´s your life and I have no right to tell you what to do and what not. You´re my brother, no matter what.”

Jin smiled, feeling much calmer now: “I´m really glad to hear that. And… I wasn´t exactly calm the last time we spoke either, so… I´m sorry, too.”

“It´s all right,” Leo repaid his brother´s smile, before he turned to Kame again: “And… Kame, as for you, I hope you understand that this is… difficult to accept for me,” he stated a little hesitantly. “But that doesn´t mean I´d hate you or anything like that.”

Kame raised his head slowly and his expression was unreadable, when he reacted: “Sure… Don´t worry, Leo, I understand.”

The younger Akanishi seemed to be relieved, but from some reason Jin really didn´t like the tone of Kame´s voice.

“So… are we fine now?” Leo grinned a little nervously.

“Well…” Jin pretended to be thinking about it. “Since you rushed back to save us from the quarry, I´d say you remedied your burst out even before that apology, little brother,” he winked.

“Douchebag,” Leo laughed and threw the nearest dry cone at Jin, which the older one easily avoided.

“It seems we have a clear sky in Akanishi´s paradise once again!”

Both brothers turned to see Ryo and Cullen approaching them. The black-haired one leant down to them and placed a hand on one of each brother´s shoulder.

“And it´s quite a relief, I must say,” he said with a wide smile. “Separately, you´ve even more difficult to deal with.”

“Shut up,” both Akanishis murmured at once.

“Cullen! Give that bottle which you´re hiding for yourself over here!” Ryo requested.

“No way,” the older Rider snorted, putting aside the fresh catch – two hares. “It´s your problem you´ve already wasted all the common supplies.”

“Oh, come on, don´t be a cheap stake!” the blonde Rider rushed to support his buddy very quickly, noticing that the serious part of that evening was probably over. And he was also followed by Jane, who checked on their expressions carefully first, before she smiled relieved.

*

The heated argument about a single bottle would have continued even during the dinner, if not for Jane, who threatened not to give Koki and Ryo their share of meal, if they didn´t stop. But it definitely didn´t spoil the relaxed atmosphere.

Even though Cullen and Ryo hadn´t noticed any suspicious tracks or movements within a mile in their direction, they kept the fire as small as was possible for the night, which was still damn cold so close to the Rocky Mountains. With that, they all ended up squeezed almost shoulder to shoulder around it, trying to get some warm into the numb fingers.

“I think we´ve heard more than enough of your boasting,” Cullen interrupted another Koki´s speech about how heroic he was, when he sneaked into the quarry as one of the workers and had to work hard for the whole day.

“Thank you, man,” Ryo breathed out in overreacted relief. “I almost fell asleep.”

Koki was so offended that he didn´t even consider them worth of talking with anymore and crossed arms across his chest.

On the contrary to the blonde Rider, Jin and Kame were not very talkative and didn´t react on any questions well, but still, the oldest Rider turned to them now: “So, what about you two? Will you be able to travel tomorrow?”

“If you want to continue with us, of course,” Leo added, looking at his brother seriously.

“Well, I think I´ll be fine…” Jin looked at Kame, who was seated next to the blonde one now, but didn´t manage to catch his look. The younger one was all tense, his eyes looking somewhere between the dark trees. “Kame? What about you?”

But Kamenashi didn´t react.

“Handsome?” Koki gently touched the other´s shoulder, but it still made Kame flinch. “What is it? You look as if you saw a ghost,” the blonde one joked, but it didn´t meet with a good response.

“I just…” Kame started hoarsely and stopped, hesitating.

“Kazuya, what´s wrong?” Jin asked quietly, but in a tone which finally made the younger one look at him.

Kame took a deep breath: “I think that… that _he_ is somewhere close,” he explained in a quiet, tense voice.

Jin didn´t have to ask to know whom Kame meant. Looking into the younger one´s worried eyes made him realize that something was bothering him for quite some time as well. The woods around them sometimes got simply too quiet. He didn´t pay much attention to it, relying on their faithful animal friends to let them know if anything was wrong, but they couldn´t feel everything. Kame´s instinct, or sixth sense or whatever it was, helped them out more than once. It would be foolish to ignore it now.

“What do you mean by that, Kame?” Jane asked him in astonishment.

“He means Grenet,” Jin replied darkly instead of Kame.

“You saw him somewhere?” Cullen asked frowning.

“No… I just… feel it,” Kame seemed uncomfortable saying that, but nobody laughed at him.

“You know, sometimes, you scare me a little, Handsome,” Koki commented with not even a hint of humor in his voice.

“I think we´d have noticed if somebody followed us from the quarry,” the oldest Rider said incredulously.

“No offense, but you have no idea what Grenet is capable of,” Jin leant closer to the flames, lowering his voice even more: “So, as it seems we _won´t_ leave with you in the morning…”

The other Riders seemed to be confused, but Leo understood his brother´s intention.

“I think I know what´s on your mind, Bro,” he nodded seriously.


	41. Obsession

**A** t first, Math Grenet was mad with rage.

Both Kamenashi and Akanishi escaped. It seemed _impossible_ , but they still did. The most important building of the whole quarry burnt down to the ground. Once Cameron would find out, he would probably faint. Those Sioux shitheads topped off the series of issues with their attack, slaughtering a good half of his underlings. After this, the information about disappearance of their Indian captive didn´t even surprise him and the persistent headache along with nausea didn´t exactly brighten up his day either.

But then, he realized that it was absolutely useless to waste energy by blustering on the rest of those imbeciles, who couldn´t guard a single man. He still had a certain intention, which he wasn´t willing to give up on… And while focusing on it, his anger turned into a fierce desire for revenge.

No one ever fucked him over as much as the Montana brats. Ever since Math was around sixteen years old, _no one_ had crossed his path without fatal consequences and those two had already done it for too many times. He wouldn´t be surprisedif they were even behind that Indian attack; those damned red skins acted with just a too perfect timing. And he had thought that they had no guts for more than sneaking around and raiding the carts leaving Laporte.

Nevertheless, Math didn´t give a shit about sandstone anymore. All he cared for was how to make those two pay for everything they caused. He _would_ get them into his hands once again and show them what it meant to play games with Math Grenet. He would make them regret ever thwarting his plans, and especially Kamenashi.

This vengeful focus kept Math going on no matter the fatigue or the sprained ankle with which he paid for jumping out of the window. Only in that one moment, when he was about to hit the pile of hastily stacked blankets and sandbags on the ground, he seriously doubted if everything would work out for him this time. But it did, and he was eager to grasp another chance to have some fun with both ´Nashi´s´.

The pain and dizziness weakened him, but he didn´t have to be fully at his senses to realize that it was time for retreat, seeing onegunman after another falling down under the rain of arrows. There was even no need to gather those who were not injured yet, as the most of them were already hallway out of the valley.

He just armed himself in the armory, while Danny, who made the jump into the compost almost without a scratch, managed to catch a couple of frightened horses, and with the sharp Indian yells behind their backs, they literally shot their way out from the quarry…

 

They gathered at the first seemingly safe place, just a mile north of the quarry, near to the Laporte warehouses. Since Grenet wanted to leave at least a half of the survivors on the spot, to watch over the following events, he would have had six men plus Danny at hand and he considered that enough to chase after the fugitives. But that was only until those bastards refused to obey.

Marty was the first one refusing to chase after some brats, who had no value and the rest of them joined him. Whining as puppies, they thought up tons of excuses to sit there on their asses, from the furious Sioux, to the necessity of waiting for Cameron´s return. Before they named them all, his head almost exploded and he considered shooting one or two of them to makethe others to change their opinion, but it would be a waste of bullets, which he needed.

In the end, he lost his patience and took only Danny along. At least they were less noticeable that way – he definitely didn´t want those two to suspect what was coming at them. And moreover, who needed incapable idiots? He was more than enough all by himself to get Kamenashi on his knees and Akanishi to his grave…

 

With very quiet Danny following him, Grenet led their way up the hill, knowing exactly, where to start with the search – at the top of the lowest southern slope, which Akanishi had intended to use for their escape before. And his hunch was right. He found some blood-stained cloths in the trampled grass and many hoof prints around. He guessed that the gang of Akanishi´s brother came to their rescue and then they headed south, probably trying to avoid the unwanted attention, which was definitely about to come from Fort Collins.

The ground was soft after the spring thaw and it wasridiculously easy to follow them in that terrain. That fact was the first thing since his unpleasant waking-up which improved his mood. The second one followed not long after that, when he found their little camp between the hills… But with the Black Riders involved, Math had to be patient. It would be stupid to go against the whole gang. Seeing that tight circle around the fire, he assumed that it was not so serious with that argument Akanishi had mentioned… If he was telling the truth at all.

Math managed to find a convenient spot nearby and forbid Danny from setting up any fire. No matter the related discomfort, he couldn´t risk being exposed in advance. During the night, his teeth chattered from cold, but since he kept replaying the possible outcomes of that waiting in front of his eyes, which included many bloody details, he was somehow able to hold on until the sunrise…

 

Early the following morning, Math left Danny behind to watch over their horses and set off towards the Riders´ camp. He found a well-covered spot between two rocks with perfect view over everything, what was going on down there… And he almost couldn´t believe his luck.

Just five horses were prepared for the ride, while the black stallion and white mare were left aside, grazing on the first straws of spring grass peacefully. Four Riders and that woman, who was with them, had just finished packing their stuff and they were ready to mount the horses. It didn´t take long beforeonly his two targets remained in the small valley…

Math completely forgot about the vibrant pain in his ankle, which he strained too much by this furious hunt and a slimy grin contorted his face, while watching the changed scene. Akanishi was limping quite heavily, as he moved around and Kamenashi was just sitting by the fire, cowering under the blanket.

“Well, boys, you chose the wrong time and wrong place to get some rest,” Math murmured for himself. They just didn’t´ know it yet…

*

 

Jin watched as his brother´s company disappeared behind another hill. Their camp got quiet and lonely, which only increased his bad feeling. He turned and his eyes ran across the rocks hovering above them. Only the day before, they brought him a sense of safety, but today… Their dark shadow felt somehow ominous.

Slowly, he limped towards their campfire. They would have put it down a long time ago under normal circumstances, but since they expected _a visitor_ , they kept it steady. If that bastard was watching them from somewhere, Jin was quite sure that they were persuasive enough about not suspecting anything.

When he sat down next to silent Kame, he took his time to do it carefully, since his leg still protested against any sudden movement. He was lucky that it was _only_ a clean bullet hole. Breathing out in relief, Jin folded both legs into the most comfortable position and then he focused on his so non-speaking companion.

Kame uttered scarcely five words since the previous evening. He was still pale, but at least he didn´t seem so tired anymore, only anxious.

“I can do it if you´re not feeling up to it, Kame,” Jin offered quietly. “I still don´t like that you should be the bait, anyway…”

The younger one kept looking to the small flickering flames, when he replied: “No… It´s all right, Jin. It´s more probable that he´ll come after me first.”

Jin frowned worriedly, once again not liking the younger one´s voice. But this time, it was as if there was something… gloomyin it. Definitely something that he was not used to hear.

He reached out and placed a hand on the other´s shoulder. Kame didn´t move away, but he stiffened and still didn´t look at the older one. From some reason, the words which Jinmeant to say got stuck in his throat. That awful feeling about what Grenet might have done to his lover was back in an even greater strength. That bastard was always full of bullshit, what if some of it was bothering Kame now?

Jin opened his mouth for a question, but in the last second, he reconsidered. It was better to wait for a better opportunity.

“All right… I´ll remain close no matter what,” he stated reassuringly.

Only now, the younger one´s eyes focused on him: “I know.”

Their looks locked together for a while and Jin suddenly saw that Kame was hiding much more emotions inside of him than one could tell – he was resolved and nervous at the same time, but there was also something so sad, that Jin´s heart sank noticing it.

“Kazu… Will you be all right?” he asked hoarsely.

Kame sighed and then he covered Jin´s hand with his: “Yeah… I will be. If you will.”

“Well, that´s good,” Jin chuckled a little. “Since apart from a hole in my leg I´m completely fine.”

The younger one tried to return the smile, but it turned out quite ruefully. And Jin knew what, or rather who, caused that and he was willing to do anything to get a real Kame´s smile back…

 

Kame was grateful that Jin tried to cheer him up without unnecessary questions. It was difficult to remain calm, when he felt so restless.

He dreaded the moment of facing that cruel pervert again, but at the same time he was determined to bring this whole story related to Math Grenet to its final. He was already sick of expecting that man behind every tree.

During the last night, when he woke up from just another bad dream, in which Jin was the target of Grenet´s attention this time, Kame realized that he wouldn´t be able to sleep peacefully until the murderer of his mother and his friends would end up dead as well...

*

 

Math observed the activities of that _cute couple_ with a satisfied smirk through the curtain of low conifer branches. He changed his position for one much closer to the little camp.

Following their track before, he was a bit worried about how to deal with the whole group of Black Riders, when he had only Danny as a back-up, but since those two obviously ended up being alone, it would be no big deal at all. All he had to do was to wait for the right moment.

They seemed to be just resting - Akanishi was taking care of their weapons, while Kamenashi was sipping on some hot liquid and most of the time stared into the flames motionlessly. Considering that they should be far from being healthy after the _visit_ in the quarry, Math could try to handle them both at once, but that would be a useless risk. It was better to wait until one of them…

An upset neigh coming from the shady spot under the pines tore Math off his scheming. The white mare was shaking its big head and kept snorting nervously, while the black stallion was literally dancing on the spot, trying to release the tied reins, keeping him close to a tree trunk. Both animals were staring in the direction of his hideout.With the wind changing, they probably sensed him this time.

 _Plague on them both,_ Math cursed in his mind, _I should have brought some arsenic and give it to them as a snack_.

Both youngsters turned to their animals with a concerned frown, which was a clear sign for him to retreat to a safer distance… Sneaking further away between the pines, Math was searching for another spot, from where he could watch them, but not too distant. There was one uprooted tree, which served that purpose well and fortunately, it was alsofar enough to calm those stupid animals.

After a while, Kamenashi got up and slowly approached his mare. It seemed as if he talked to her or something, before he patted also the almost motionless stallion and proceeded further between the trees. Math checked on the fireplace and smirked. Akanishi remained sitting at the fire, still obviously focused on his precious weapons.

_And here we go with a convenient moment…_

Grenet carefully straightened up and cowering behind the trunks and bushes, quickly headed towards the place, where Kamenashi probably went to relieve himself. He found him just when the youngster was buttoning up his pants.

Grabbing one of those fine Akanishi´s revolvers, which he managed to snatch from the armory, Math crept up to the pretty face step by step. This time, there was no way that Kamenashi would have made his way away from him. Definitely, _no way_.And he would get his damn satisfaction while fucking him so that...

Some stupid twig cracked under his boot and it made Kamenashi turn before Math could reach the spot he wished to be at – right behind his back. But he didn´t let himself be disturbed by the early revelation; he knew Kamenashi´s weak spots by now very well.

“There was no need to dress up because of me,” he grinned with the revolver aiming at the youngster´s stomach.

With his eyes widening, Kamenashi took a breath.

“No, no, don´t do that,” Math reacted quickly. “I have somebody aiming at Akanishi´s head right at this moment. Make any noise and he´s as good as dead.”

His prey stiffened hearing that, but didn´t say anything.

“Come closer, baby boy, no need to be afraid,” he mocked the younger one, approaching closer. “I´ve had _enough_ of you slipping out of my fingers…”

With eachof his steps forward, Kamenashi made one backwards, and it was not even a bit amusing anymore. Math was already annoyed by how desperately that brat was still trying to avoid the inevitable.

“If you really want to piss me off then keep moving,” he grunted.

Kamenashi froze and remained standing under one of those ugly pines, staring at him.

“See? That´s the way…”

Something cracked on his right.

Even though the previous experiences were telling Grenet not to let Kamenashi out of his sight even for a second, he couldn´t help but glance away. He noticed just a glimpse of some movement, so short that he immediately considered it to be just a work of his nerves and he returned his eyes to Kamenashiright away. And once again he was reminded that it really _wasn´t_ a good idea to let himself be distracted, while facing that unpredictable youngster.

He just couldn´t be quick enough to react to the long leg, which kicked that fine revolver out of his hand. The weapon flew away somewhere into the bushes, as Kamenashi returned to his original position on both feet.

With his right hand tingling up to the elbow, Grenet gritted his teeth: “Nice try!” he snapped and reached for another revolver hidden at his belt.

“Drop it.”

That cold order was heard on his left side and something hard buried into his stomach along with it. Kamenashi was still standing in front of him, with that same focused expression, which was not fear, as Math realized now – the youngster was concentrated on his every move. That little calculative bastard…

Math glanced to the side to find a stern face of an older man whom he remembered spotting in Fort Collins – one of the Riders. And he was tickling him with a barrel of an impressive rifle.

“I said – _drop it_. Slowly,” the man repeated.

“Or die bleeding like a pig, you´re free to choose,” another, and quite familiar voice joined him behind Math´s back. But he used to hear it only crying or making desperate jokes, not in such a determined and spiteful tone. It was the voice of that blonde shithead, who tried to incite a revolt in the quarry.

“I definitely support that second option,” the third Rider appeared in the middle of bushes, where the sharp crack was heard before, a black-haired one this time.

Shit… They just kept popping out of nowhere. So that parting was just an act play… They expected him to come and they outnumbered him greatly.Double shit.

 “Too scared to face me alone, Kamenashi?” Math grinned offensively and he let the gun fall to the ground. But the baby boy seemed to be in his non-talkative mood and didn´t react. “Black Riders, I suppose,” he looked around three other faces then. “Are you sure it´s a good idea to threaten me? I have a dozen men surrounding the area and they…”

“Save your breath, we know you´re alone, you son of a bitch,” the blonde Rider hissed over his shoulder, when he searched him for more firearms and took also his knife.

“If you think so…” Math smirked, even though he began to be quite nervous. Would it be possible that one of them watched him since the departure from the quarry? “Just wait until you end up with bullets in your asses,” he tried to confuse them once again.

“Keep your empty threats, Grenet. You really _are_ alone, you just don´t know it yet.”

Another bastardwho joined the scene, looked so much like Akanishi, that it could be no one else than his younger brother. But that was not something Math would care for at the moment, as a certain boy was walking in front of the Riders´ leader. Without any restraints and moreover with an expression that Math wasn´t used to see on the boy´s face – determined and somehow cold.

“Your _friend_ here was so kind to tell us about the actual state of your affairs,” Leo Akanishi continued, as he patted the boy´s thin shoulder.

“Danny?” Math gritted his teeth, feeling the dark anger rising in him again. “What´s the meaning of this?”

The boy didn´t reply, though he cowered a little under the harsh sound of his name.

“It seems that he´s finally fed up with you,” the blonde Rider announced to him with a quite hideous grin. “We found him in the woods looking for _us_ , would you believe it? It was quite smart of him.”

Math couldn´t believe it. That submissive brat gave him in?

“You treacherous asshole!” Math spat angrily. “How dare you…!”

“I´ve just did what I should have done a long time ago,” Danny interrupted him with a shocking composure.

“You should be grateful to me, you little fucker!” Math grunted hatefully, still shocked by the betrayal coming from somebody, from whom he would expect it the least of all.

 

Leo was observing Grenet´s contorted face a bit curiously. That bastard didn´t understand at all, why Danny McFly acted as he did.

Not that the boy would have explained them his reasons in details, but what he had mentioned was more than enough for Leo.McFly didn´t receive any good treatment from that man and he was very serious about helping them to get him. And Grenet was… simply too selfish to understand that this outcome was his own fault.

When the gunman started yelling insults at the boy, McFly made a kind of sad face: “You don´t get it and you never will… I know that now.”

“I´m gonna…!”

The barrel of Cullen´s rifle burying deeper into Grenet´s stomach stopped another one of his tirades.

McFly turned to the Leo: “May I go now? As I said, I have no reason to betray you guys.”

Everybody looked at Leo, awaiting his decision, but he just observed the boy for a while, before he turned to Kame. He assumed that his brother´s… friend was the only one who could estimate what the boy would actually do…

“I guess you´re the one who knows him the most, Kame… What do you think?”

Kame repaid his serious look rather surprised, before he focused on McFly, who seemed to be reconciled with whatever they´d decide in advance.

“What are you going to do now?” Kame asked him seriously after a moment of hesitation.

The boy shrugged: “Definitely not going back to the quarry. I´d like to go home… There´s someone, who actually _cares_ about me back in Bozeman. I hope so, at least…”

Kame nodded, thinking for a while: “Do you know the Brices?” he asked suddenly.

Danny nodded.

“Can you deliver a message for me?”

“If you let me go…” the boy reacted.

Kamenashi was looking into the boy´s eyes, when he spoke again: “Then just tell them that… I´m doing fine.”

“Sure, no problem.Anything else?”

“…no,” Kame shook his head. “Don´t go into any details.”

“I understand. Thanks for trusting me and… I´m sorry, really, for everything,” McFly seemed to be serious about his apology.

Kame didn´t react to that and looked at Leo instead: “I think we can let him go, Leo,” he gave out his final statement.

Leo was really glad to hear it. McFly was very young and he just ended up in the wrong company. It would have been difficult if they had to get rid of him. Unlike Grenet, the boy deserved a second chance.

“Fine then. You heard him,” he said to the boy. “Get out, before I reconsider.”

“Thank you,” Danny appreciated their decision again, before turning to leave, which only assured Leo that it was a good decision to let him go. McFly disappeared between the trees without a single look back.

During their conversation, Grenet was suspiciously quiet, but his deadly stares towards the leaving boy were clear enough; he´d have killed McFly on the spot, if he could.

“That was lovely,” he evaluated spitefully. “You´re so nice that it makes me wanna vomit. He´ll rat you out at the first opportunity!”

“That´s not of your concern,” Leo informed him scornfully.

“And what are you going to do with me?” Grenet hissed.“Will you be as lovely as in that little shit´s case?”

Only silence replied to him.

“Oh, I guess not,” Grenet snorted. “But maybe baby boy… You´ve always been too soft to actually do anything, will you have some guts _now_?”

The youngster´s eyes were looking at the man, but Grenet didn´t manage to provoke any reaction from him. Leo was not sure if he should admire Kame´s composure or be shocked by it. But no matter that, there was somebody, who was obviously influenced by that bullshit a lot and he was just limping towards the scene…

“To be in your shoes, I´d rather shut up,” Leo recommended Grenet, looking behind his back.

But the gunman ignored the warning. Actually, he didn´t seem to be exactly sane at the moment, as he kept raising his voice and the spit was flying in the air with each word he said… Leo was listening to the man feeling increasingly disgusted.

“Do your friends here know what a pretty bitch you´re? You enjoyed our little date, didn´t you?” Grenet continued mockingly. “You can never escape from the fact, you´re not normal, baby boy, but you can still _enjoy_ it. Speak up _for me_ and I will fuck you so hard that…”

Grenet´s speech was interrupted with a hand grabbing his shoulder and turning him in the opposite direction roughly, making him almost choke on the last word. The gunmancouldn´t react in time even if he wanted to. His teeth clanked together under the hard hit. Grenet would have fallen, but the other hand kept him steady, while its colleague hit him again. And then two more times, before finally letting him go.

Math Grenet literally collapsed to the ground, the blood gushing from his broken lips. He ended up on his side, coughing out a dislocated tooth. No Rider moved to stop their leader´s brother. Neither did Leo, who was a bit shocked to see Jin so… furious, even though he knew that his sibling could be like that.

The older Akanishi came closer to the lying man andwith all his strength, heused his unharmed leg to kick up his stomach. Grenet yelped and then started wheezing for breath. And yet, nobody moved or spoke…

 

Heavily breathing, Jin kicked the defenseless man again, not being able to raise the red curtain of anger, which flooded his mind. He knew no better way to release all his hatred, anger and fear than by burying his boot into that soft flesh and make that creature suffer. And still it was not…

“Jin.”

That voice was only like a quiet echo somewhere in the distance over the curtain, familiar, but not strong enough to break through his amok. Grenet had to suffer, he had to die, otherwise Jin would have never felt peace anymore…

“Jin!”

Finally realizing it was Kazuya´s voice, Jin raised his eyes from whining and bleeding Grenet to meet with the serious look of his lover.

“That´s enough,” Kame said quietly but with strong emphasis.

Jin still couldn´t calm his breath, but his vision got clearer and he could start to think again. His knuckleshurt and he felt as after running two miles. He didn´t understand what exhausted him so much…

“I agree... He´s not worth staining your hands with him, Bro,” Leo joined Kame, watching his brother quite worriedly.

Jin took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. The red flood was gone and he felt a bit relieved, but he was missing something… No, not something, _somebody_. He needed Kazuya´s closeness.

Jin overstepped the lying man, so that he wouldn´t even brush over him with his boot, made two quick steps and without any word he hugged Kame vigorously. Only later, he realized that it had to hurt the younger one. But Kame remained still and after a moment, he circled his hands around the older one´s waist, and leant his forehead over Jin´s shoulder, as if he wanted to hide his face in front of the looks of other Riders.

 

Cullen rolled his eyes, Koki and Ryo grinned at each other and Leo rather focused on their captive. Grenet was obviously conscious, but his face looked as if a herd of buffalo ran over it.

“Guys,” Leo pointed at Grenet, who was kind of rolling in his own blood. “We need to tie him up.”

“Yeah, and very properly, I´ll make sure of itmyself,” Koki stated and leant down with a quite dangerous shine in his eyes.

“And I´ll gladly help you with that,” Ryo joined him willingly.

Together, they pulled Grenet up on his feet, not caring about him spitting clots of blood and saliva between the coughs. But when Koki and Ryo wanted to turn the man towards the temporary camp, the man resisted their lead and the hateful grey look pierced the hugging couple.

“Enjoy yourselves while you can… sweeties…” Grenet blurted out hoarsely. “Because you can bet… I´ll find a way… to get you both…”

Kame and Jin pulled away from each other slowly and looked at that disgusting man. Neither of them replied, but their eyes spoke for themselves. That absolutely equal volume of contempt and resentment impressed even Leo and it seemed to piss Grenet off even more.

“You think… you´re better than me?!” the man staggered, as the two Riderskept trying to drag him away. “But you´re _not_!”

“Shut up, Grenet!” Koki snapped, shifting with him roughly. “Nobody is curious about your crap!”

“You think you cannot… hate me more? I´ll bring you out of mistake then!” when Grenet grinned this time, it was a quite hideous look with all that blood creating the frames to his teeth. “Akanishi, you´re such a good screamer, but I bet you could do even better!”

Disgusted Cullen turned the rifle in his hands upside down and approached the spitting man, just when Leo thought up of the very same idea…

“And baby boy… You´re a special case! Isn´t he, Akanishi?With that pretty ass of his. First, I´ll make him watch you die, and then…”

Jin moved forward with an obvious intention to beat the soul out of that bastard, but it wasn´t necessary anymore. A wheezy laugh, which started coming from Grenet´s throat, was interrupted in the bud and the man collapsed to the ground again, since neither Ryo nor Koki bothered to keep him on his feet, when Cullen hit Grenet´s temple with the gun-stock.

“I was getting a headache already,” the oldest Rider grunted, as he threw the strap of the rifle over his shoulder.

“Me too,” Ryo breathed out in relief.

“But now we have to carry him…” Koki observed the motionless body annoyed.

Kame leant his back over the nearest bole and closed his eyes, while Jin started to massage his right hand with a dark expression.

In a silent understanding, nobody commented anything from what was said.

With the flood of complaints and curses, Koki, Ryo and Cullen started carrying the unconscious Grenet towards the camp. Jane had just brought their horses there and she was already waiting for them. Leo approached his brother.

“Let´s go to sit on this. I bet you didn´t exactly help your leg with this _exercise_ , Jin…”

*

 

This time, Cullen didn´t have any objections against sharing his precious bottle of Mexican tequila with the others. Actually, he brought it to the fire all by himself and let it go around to everyone. Jin took the biggest gulp of all and Kame didn´t even bother to check what was given to his hand before drinking up as well.

Math Grenet was lying in the grass nearby, looking almost like a mummy, wrapped in all those firm ropes. He was still so pleasurably quiet, since he hadn´t woken up yet, but just to be sure, they also stuffed a gag into his filthy mouth.

When the bottle returned to Cullen, a half of it was gone. He put the rest of it aside, though he was not so naive to hope that it would last the rest of that day.

“So? Any suggestions?” the Rider brought up a topic, which was hanging in the air, his eyes looking mainly at Leo´s brother and Kamenashi. But neither of them reacted…

“Shoot him in the head,” Koki´s opinion stated his opinion right away.

“Waste of a bullet,” Ryo opined.

“It´d be a quick and final solution, wouldn´t it?” the blonde one defended his idea.

“Ultimate,” his buddy agreed. “But…”

“But he doesn´t deserve a mercy of quick death,” the older Akanishi cut in unwaveringly.

“All right… Can´t argue about that. A noose around his neck, then?” Koki came up with another deadly idea.

Before anyone else could react on it, so far quietly frowning Jane disrupted their planning: “You put yourself in the role of judges quite easily,” she reproached them.

“You´d have given him to the Marshals?!” the blonde Rider reacted incredulously.

“That´d be the only right choice,” the brunette nodded firmly. “Otherwise, you´d be the same as…”

“Not an option,” Jin interrupted her harshly. “Back in Montana, he had been sentenced to death and yet he managed to escape. We _won´t_ make the same mistake again.”

Jane looked around the Riders´ faces, searching for any support, but she didn´t find it. She sighed: “Guys… Remember that you will have to live with what you decide to do with him.”

Unexpectedly, Kame was the one reacting on that statement coldly: “We must live with many bad things, Jane. And most of them are related to that man.”

Jane took a breath, wiling to start an argument, but she realized that it would be hopeless. Kame´s and also Jin´s expressions were unreachable. She, just as the rest of the Riders, knew that both of them suffered a lot because of Math Grenet. But only now she realized how greatly they were affected by it. It awoke cruelty inside of them. There was no point in arguing, especially when they obviously had the rest of the gang on their side. So, she just pressed her lips together and kept silent, even though it pained her imagining, what that decision would do with them.

“What would _you_ suggest, Kame?” Ryo asked.

Theyoung Rider focused on the flames again, not replying, pressing his hands together in a little anxious gesture.

“There´s something on your mind, right?” Jin encouraged him quietly, noticing that the younger one was hesitating.

“Yeah, I might have an… idea,” Kame turned to the older one for a moment, as if he wanted to make sure of something, before he spoke again. “We can give him over to Sioux.”

A short silence fell on the camp.

Jin felt goosebumps jumping all over his skin. There was something in Kazuya´s eyes, when he said that. Something dark, what he had seenonly once, and that was when they let Raynold Karnaka burn to death along with his mansion. Jin didn´t like that ice-cold impression Kame was leaving like that. But he couldn´t deny that he _did_ like that idea. Actually, he couldn´t think of anything better.

“Why to them? What would they do with him?” Jane asked very quietly, disrupting the silence.

“Grenet is their sworn enemy,” Kame started to explain slowly. “Not only because of the quarry, which is located on their territory. But he also forced their people to slavery in the silver mines and he murdered many of their warriors.”

“So, they would torture him to death at the stake…” Leo figured, not expressing any opinion.

Kame didn´t reply, but he didn´t have to.

“I can´t help but like this idea,” Koki commented with a quite satisfied smirk.

“That´s horrible…” Jane whispered, honestly terrified.

“He doesn´t deserve your compassion, Jane, believe me,” Jin said in a deep voice.

“I do, but to let him torture by Indians… That´s inhuman,” she protested shakily.

“They consider it just that a man should pay for his crimes before leaving this world,” Kame reacted quietly, which took any other objections from the brunette´s mouth. She was not able to argue with that look Kame had…

“Don´t bother with it, dear,” Leo reached for Jane´s hand and squeezed it gently. “You don´t have to be here if…”

“No,” she shook her head sadly. “I´ll stay. I… I understand, actually…”

Leo nodded wordlessly, but still he pulled his girlfriend closer and secured an arm around her waist.

“So… The Indians again, huh?” Cullen noted and lit up a cigarette. “Are you sure we won´t bring up more troubles on ourselves with it?”

“The opposite, we would make them obliged to us,” Kame replied soberly.

“Sounds good, let´s make some Indian friends,” Ryo nodded in agreement as well.

“That´s all really nice and so, but how do we find them?” the oldest Rider wondered. “Didn´t you forget that they´re rebels, right? They won´t be sitting on their asses in the reservation.”

“But their families will,” Kame had a response to that as well. “And they will know where to find them.”

“And I guess you´re sure you can make them talk…” Leo assumed, without any doubts. “All right then… I don´t feel I have much right to talk into this anyway, and since Koki agrees, I´m also in.”

“I don´t think you should stick around with us for this, Leo,” Jin objected. “You´ve helped us more than enough.”

His younger brother frowned: “You don´t think I´ll let you two travel with that bastard all alone?”

“The Sioux should be settled somewhere in the near area, it won´t be for long,” Kame reminded seriously.

“Doesn´t matter, you´re not going alone,” Leo decided.“Ryo, Koki, what would you say to a little trip to our future Indian friends?”

“Wouldn´t mind it,” Ryo shrugged.

“I´d go even if you forbad it,” the blonde one grinned.

“It´s settled then,” Leo concluded the topic.“And as for the three of us…”

“You want to set off after Nick and Jack?” Cullen figured.

“Exactly, at the best right away… Jane?” Leo looked at his girlfriend.

“I agree, the sooner we get there, the better,” Jane nodded seriously.

“Well, it seems that our ways are going to separate again, Bro,” the Riders´ leader turned to his older brother again, a bit sadly, but he tried to cover it with a smile.

“Not for long, I hope,” Jin reacted.

“I´d say that this decision deserves… yes! Exactly this, Cullen,” Koki evaluated the bottle in front of his nose gratefully.

 


	42. Satisfaction

**T** hey traveled together only until the first houses of Fort Collins appeared on the horizon, stopping by the stagecoach station. As they planned to avoid the city, they needed to buy some supplies there. While Leo, Jin and Cullen stayed out of sight in the grove off the main road and watched over their captive, the rest of them did some shopping at the owner of the facility and let the local blacksmith check the horseshoes of their animals.

Ryo and Koki also ´sacrificed´ themselves to visit the dirty taproom and hear out the recent news. As expected, the Sioux attack on the sandstone quarry in Laporte was the main topic of the day. The people complained about incompetence of the U.S. Army, which was supposed to prevent such a situation and the voices calling for the final removal of all remaining Indians were increasing once again…

When the time to say goodbye came, nobody was very happy about it, but they tried to keep the positive atmosphere, counting on an early reunion.

Janeapproached Kame and Jin holdinga small package: “Don´t forget to re-bind your wounds,” she urged them, forcing the spare bandages into the younger one´s hands.

“Thanks, Jane,” Kame accepted the medical equipment gratefully.

Then the brunette looked from one to another, sighed and instead of more lectures, she just spread her hands and hugged them both at once, hiding her face between their shoulders.

“I want you to know that even if I don´t like it, I understand your decision…” she whispered just for their ears.

When the brunette pulled away, both of them just looked at her without reaction, but she didn´t needed any, anyway.

“Be careful,” Jane patted their shoulders for one last time, before heading to Koki and Ryo.

Leo came to them as the second one and reached out a hand to his brother.

“Back then, I didn´t know what to make of your arrival, Bro, but in the end, I don´t want to let you go,” the younger Akanishi grinned a little forcefully.

“We´ll see you soon again,” Jin promised. “Thanks for everything, little brother.”

“Me too. You both helped us out a lot,” Leo looked at Kame as well. “We´ll stay in Hereford for as long as necessary, so catch up with us there.”

Kame nodded: “We´ll try, but if we´re not in time, then…”

“We´ll leave a message for you at the local post office. Either with your name, Kame, if you don´t mind it, or Koki´s,” Leo proposed.

“Of course, no problem,” the younger one agreed, while shaking the Riders´ leader hand.

“Fine,” Leo smiled and smacked Jin over his back playfully: “Good luck,” he wished them both, before turning to the other two Riders.

The last one taking his turn was their ´old wolf´. The Rider stared at them for a while and both youngsters repaid his look.

“I won´t hug you, if you don´t mind,” Cullen snorted in the end.

“We´ll survive it,” Jin made a mocking face.

“Yeah, I´ll bet on that,” the oldest Rider altered his hat, so that it hid his face in an even deeper shadow. “We won´t be there to save your stupid asses every time, so spare me listening to Leo´s cursing and avoid troubles, will you?”

“We´ll try our best,” Kame replied with a serious face.

“I know _you_ will, but I´m not so sure in _his_ case,” Cullen pointed at Jin.

Jin´s eyes sent the daggers toward the man, but the veteran was unmoved by that.

While this nice conversation took place, Leo parted with Koki, who went to pick up mummified Grenet from the ground under a thick pine, from where he was staring at them the whole time, as that was literally the only thing he could do at the moment, and took Ryo a little aside.

“I count on you, Ryo. Keep an eye on them, understood?” Leo urged the black-haired Rider.

“I know. They´re not exactly sane, when it comes to Grenet…” Ryo figured what was on his leader´s mind. “Don´t worry, Leo. I won´t let them do anything stupid,” he promised seriously.

*

Then, they mounted their waiting horsesand divided into two groups.

Math Grenet´s hands were firmly tied and connected to Kuro´s saddle. Koki made himself comfortable on his horse and took a position right behind their captive with a gun in his hand, while Ryo was supposed to ride last.

While Leo´s group promptly continued further on the road to the north, the other one with Kame in lead, turned towards the Rocky Mountains in the west. Very quickly, they disappeared from each other´s views, heading to their separate goals.

***

 

The Indiansettlementlocated nearby the Lake Granby served just as a temporary reservation before the gathered red men were supposed to be moved south, to the borders with New Mexico. It was rather small, so the Army didn´t bother guarding it much, since they had their hands full with nomadic Indians and their gathering.

No matter the poor security, the Riders camped for the night far enough from the reservation. They waited for the dusk and after a short discussion, only Jin and Kame headed for the negotiations with the Indians, while Ryo and Koki stayed to watch over obviously still angry Grenet. Every time they pulled the gag out of the man´s mouth to give him some water, he just kept spatting insults at them. But they all ignored him, as well as his questions about what they meant to do with him.

Getting inside the reservation was easy; there were only two cards-playing soldiers at a small fire and no fence around. Finding anyone willing to talk to them was much harder. The inhabitants of this small village were mostly women, children and elders and moreover from the various tribes. But Kame could be very persistent and persuasive when he wanted, even when he used up his limited vocabulary.

In the end, one young Sioux female led them to her grandfather and after he heard Kame out, he summoned the small Council. There were only three elders in it, but that didn´t mean it took less time to persuade them. They even requested to see the captive, so in the middle of the night they took the liveliest old man out of the village.

Almost five-hour-long negotiations paid off, even though Kame seemed quite exhausted after that. They were told about the Sioux rebels´ approximate location and decided to set off right in the morning. The so-called Baxter Peak was their next destination.

*

The hills were not so steep in that part of Colorado, but it was a difficult trip between the mountains nevertheless, especially when Grenet had started to pretend that he was too tired to go on. Ryo suggested that they could drag him behind over the ground, which Jin refused, claiming that his Kuro would not be bothered with any dead weight. Koki had a better idea, when he told Grenet that in the case he wouldn´t move, he could piss into his own pants the next time he would need to relieve. The gunman reconsidered his attitude quite quickly after that.

Within another day, they passed the beautiful area in the full spring, with some small lakes and a few waterfalls and then the goal of their travel finally appeared – the half rocky, half green foot of a low mountain.

They chose an inconspicuous clearing for their encampment to rest. They didn´t consider it wise to run around the peak searching for the Sioux hideout. Kame suggested they should look for some signs or tracks first, but in the end, it was not even necessary. They didn´t have to search for the Sioux rebels at all, since they were found themselves… The Riders barely managed to stretch their legs, before they faced the sharp arrowheads aiming at them from all around.

“Oh, no… Again?” Koki complained annoyed before raising his hands in the air.

*

“Lakota le mitacole…”

“Kame? You´re still talking the Indian way…” Jin interrupted the flow of words softly.

The younger one broke off, looked at the puzzled expression of his friends and ran a hand over his face: “Sorry… I didn´t realize it,” he sighed and started explaining again. “Well, I told them everything and they seem to believe me. But they want to bring Nepotonje first, to confirm the whole story.”

“That´s the Indian we took along from the quarry?” Koki guessed.

“Yes,” Kame nodded. “We must wait here for a little while…”

“Under the supervision, as I see,” Ryo stared at the couple of Sioux, who stood there between them and their horses with bows in their hands.

“We already know that they have serious trust issues…” Jin noted, not a bit concerned by their guards. After so many previous experiences, he trusted Kame´s negotiating skills with the Indians.

“I have them as well,” the blonde one stated complainingly.

Some incomprehensible and very persistent murmuring disrupted their conversation. All four Riders looked at Math Grenet swirling in the grass, trying to attract their attention. They tied up his ankles now as well, not willing to risk anything, so he indeed looked like a properly wrapped present.

“What now?” Koki reacted on the man´s effort to talk through the gag. “You´ve just been there behind that bush!”

The gunman kept mumbling, his eyes shining with almost crazy intensity.

“Pull it out of his mouth,” Kame said suddenly.

The blonde one raised his eyebrows: “You´re curious about what he´s got to say now? Well, if you think so…” Koki bent down to the man and took the gag out of his mouth roughly.

Grenet spat disgusted, before looking up at them.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped hoarsely. “You dragged me all this way to visit those red shits?”

“Oh, you don´t like it here?” Koki asked him with a pretended surprise.

“We´re very sorry to hear that,” Ryo completed him caustically.

“ _You two_ are on my list as well now, brats!” the gunman hissed, as he struggled to sit up.

“It seems that you don´t understand your situation well, Grenet…” Koki announced in an instructive tone. “We´re here to _visit_ our Indian friends, but you happen to _stay_ here in their company…”

Grenet spat again: “Cowards! I knew you had no guts!” he yelled.

Very slowly, Jin made two steps, which separated him from the man and crouched down to look at his faceclosely: “Is it fear that I see in your eyes, Grenet?” he asked in a deep, dark tone.

“Screw you!” the man blurted a little breathless.

On that, Jin just smiled, in a carefully controlled, ice-cold way. He didn´t say another word, but it still made Grenet, probably for the first time ever, shut his filthy mouth up. Koki was not surprised; even he felt chills on his back seeing that smile and it was not meant to him… The gunman watched Akanishi with the bloodshot eyes and Koki realized that Jin was right – no matter how hard he tried to cover that up with cursing and yelling, Grenet was afraid…

*

When Jin straightened up, he found Kame looking at him with an expression which he couldn´t read. Then the younger one turned and walked away from them. Jin let Ryo and Koki guard that bastard and followed him. Just a few meters away, in sight of their Indian guards, they both remained standing above the small brook, which was flowing its cheerful way under them.

Kame was looking at the distant tops of the mountains, floating in the light fog northwest from them, but Jin had a feeling that he didn´t actually see them, as if he was completely elsewhere…

“Having doubts now?” he asked quietly.

The younger one took his time before he replied: “No… I´d lie to myself if I said that I hesitate to do this. You?”

“No,” Jin replied immediately. “I _need_ to watch him die…”

A short silence followed, during which both of them pondered the words that were just said.

“But…” the older one spoke hesitantly. “The truth is that… Damn, I don´t know how…”

“That we know it´s a wrong thing to do and yet, we still want it?” Kame said in a quiet, serious voice.

Jin looked at the profile of his lover, surprised that Kame expressed exactly what he meant: “Yeah, something like that…”

“It´s not the first time,” Kame noted forcefully calmly.

“No,” Jin agreed. “But back then, we wanted to avenge our families. This time…” he subconsciously soothed the tips of his nails. “I´m looking forward to it,” he finished darkly.

Kame turned to him and his eyes were unusually dark, when he raised a hand and very gently placed it on the huge bruise on Jin´s chin.

“This time we want to avenge each other,” he stated in a gloomy but somehow reconciled tone.

Jin shivered from the painful truth behind that statement. That was truly what made him so eager for Grenet to die the most – he would not allow that man to touch Kazuya ever again, no matter what was necessary to be done to achieve it. He nodded slowly, looking to the younger one´s eyes.

Kame let his hand fall, but Jin grabbed his coat before he could step back. The younger one shivered, when this time Jin touched his face, which also still carried the signs of recent rough treatment:“I couldn´t have said it better...”

“Guys!”

They turned to see Ryo waving at them to drag their attention and then pointing at the grassy slope from which a group of Indians was approaching. The Sioux were back with the reinforcements and their witness.

*

Some of the Indians, who flooded the small clearing, participated in the attack on the quarry and they might have recognized them, but almost none of the Sioux cared about the Riders much. Instead, most of them gathered around lying Grenet, who stared at them spitefully.

Nepotonje headed to Kame along with other two, quite frightfully painted warriors, but even though he walked slowly, he didn´t need their support anymore. Jin stood by Kame´s side, when the younger one started explaining their intentions again. Then the Sioux asked something and Kame fell silent.

“What did he ask about, Kame?” Jin wondered curiously.

“Why didn´t we kill him ourselves, when he caused so many bad things to us…” the younger one replied quietly.

“Tell them the truth then,” the older one reacted composedly. “That he deserves to suffer at their stake…”

Kame looked at him with a strange expression.

“And that he belongs to their revenge as well. We want to be friends with them, don´t we?” Jin added under that look.

“That´s a way better way to say it…” Kame agreed.

After a few more exchanged sentences, Nepotonje seemed to insist on something that Kame didn´t like. The younger one turned to Jin with a tense face then.

“What now?” the older one frowned.

“They will put him to death tomorrow morning. Nepotonje offered us that we can… participate in it…”

Jin stiffened: “You mean… in the torture?”

“Yeah…” the younger one cleared his throat. “I refused that...”

“Good,” Jin breathed out relieved, but Kame continued.

“Anyway, he said that we should stay and watch it. But only the two of us can, they won´t show the hideout to us all.”

Jin locked his look with Kame´s for a long while. Then, without saying anything else, the younger one turned to the Indians again and announced their reply. Nepotonje nodded, squeezed Kame´s and also Jin´s arm in a friendly gesture and then all three Indians went to join their red brothers.

One Sioux in the terrifying circle, who seemed to be the leader of rebels, spat at Math Grenet with resentment, which was definitely equal to the one which Jin or Kame felt, before turning away from the furious gunman. He yelled something, his Sioux brothers grabbed the tied up man and dragged him away to their horses. It seemed there was another unpleasant journey in front of Grenet.

The tall Sioux leader headed right to them then. His bright eyes evaluated Ryo and Koki, who stood by the horses first and then also Jin and Kame, before he spoke in a little strange, but understandable English.

“My eyes saw that man torture and kill my brothers and sisters. My heart desire for his death. I and my tribe owe you. If you want something, and we can do it, it will be done.”

“Thank you,” Kame reacted seriously. “We appreciate it. But we didn´t come to bargain with lives. Grenet is yours to execute your justice on him. He belongs to your revenge just as to ours.”

The Indian nodded: “You understand. You have Indian heart, white brother. Join us in village, to oversee this man destiny. You will be blinded, but my brothers lead you.”

*

Not that Ryo and Koki would agree with it, especially the black-haired one seemed to be willing to stop them even by force, but in the end, they could do nothing to prevent the other two from going.

Jin and Kame let the Indians cover their eyes with straps of cloths and then the red men led the way to their hideout, leaving two worried Riders and their horses behind.

They walked for almost two hours and most of the time it was up the hill. But since the sun had already set off, they really couldn´t tell in which direction they went. It was not a comfortable journey, but their guides were careful enough not to let them trip over anything.

Once they arrived to the village, the Indians led them inside a small tipi, and only there took the cloths off their eyes. They provided them with some water and dry meat and let them spend the rest of the night there. There were a few hours before dawn, so they could use if for rest, but neither Jin nor Kame could sleep…

*

When Kame closed his eyes, the darkness behind them was not calming as usually, it was restless and pitch-black instead, with a terrifying aura, as if some monsters were hiding in it. He felt as if sinking in it, but at the same time he didn´t want to escape it. That darkness represented his wish to bring a cruel death upon a man, who did his best to destroy his life.

They could have just put a bullet through Math Grenet´s head; they could, but that wouldn´t be _enough_. Not even suffering at the stake would be sufficient for everything that man had done. There was a part of Kame, which felt strange. That part was furious and wanted to end that monster´s life with its own hands. He was balancing between being scared of that stranger and welcoming him with arms wide open.

Only one thing was as clear as the sun to him. No matter how hard it would be to watch, he would bear it, for his mother, for his Indian family, for Jin, for himself. He would watch Grenet´s suffering till the very end. And then, maybe, he would be able to get rid of that shaky scared part of him, which was still squeezing his heart every time he remembered any moment in Grenet´s company. Because he clearly remembered each word, which seeded doubtful thoughts and weird feelingsin him and he hated that.

Kame knew that he couldn´t rest until that man would go through the hell and he would accompany him on the way…

 *

Jin stared at the sloping leather roof above his head, which was slightly orange in the dim glow of hot coals. He had already heard some terrifying stories about the Indian ways of torture, so he knew what to expect. But he had a feeling that his imagination was not enough to beat the personal experience…

Soon, that man, who tortured him while laughing, who hurt his Kazuya so many times, would be dead. He couldn´t wait for it and at the same time, he was terrified by that part of him, which was looking forward to it.

The temperature in the tipi was just fine, but Jin still felt cold. Grenet deserved it and even more. But did they really have the right to act as his judges, even if they thought so? Looking at stiffened Kame lying with his eyes closed, Jin realized that he was not alone in this contradictory state of mind…

“Kame?”

“Yeah…?”

“Can I…” it was embarrassing, but Jin couldn´t think of anything else to do or say. “Just… Can you take my hand?”

The orange coals flashed in the younger one´s eyes, as he opened them. Kame didn´t say anything for a long moment. It was so long that Jin started to think his idea was stupid, but then Kame reached out to his waiting hand. They both took a shaky breath, when their hands connected. Something fitted in its place and their fingers entangled together.

“We´ll get through this, right?” Jin whispered, squeezing that warm connection.

“We will,” the younger one replied equally quietly.

Hand in hand, silently and anxiously, Jin and Kame waited for the dawn to come…

*

No matter the early hour, it seemed that the whole rebel village was up, including some very young Sioux, almost only kids and they gradually assembled around the tall stake in a wide serious circle. Everybody was there, including a few women and all of them were looking towards the condemned man.

Math Grenet couldn´t be further from his usual cold and cruel self at the moment. The Sioux had given him some water and food, but it was just so that the man would last longer. The captive was firmly tied up to the stake, but his mouth was let uncovered.

Already since the first daylight, the air was shivering with the sound of drums. Now, Jin could literally feel them on his skin, when Nepotonje led them to their places, which was supposed to be in the last row of the assembled circle. Some of the Indians were humming a dark melody and ten strong warriors were preparing around the stake, gathering for their turn. They had the privilege to being the first torturers, and after them it was quite possible that the rest of the village would participate in it as well, one by one. It depended on how long the victim would hold on…

It was a heavy and dark atmosphere and Jin felt chills, as he glanced around the dark faces around them. He was aware that the whole matter wouldn´t be nice at all and one part of him wanted to turn on his heel and leave Grenet to his painful destiny, but the other one, the stronger one, made him stay and watch. After everything that bastard did to him and to Kame, Jin needed to see him suffer to feel at least some kind of satisfaction.

Grenet spotted them, as they walked around: “Here you are,” he said, but it sounded more like a crow´s roaring. “I wondered if you´d come, you little pieces of shit,” the man had no strength to move even an inch in his ties, but he didn´t forget how to make insults yet.

Kame just clenched his jaws, didn´t react and followed Nepotonje. Jin looked at the man, who caused him so many non-healed scars. Despite his situation, an insane smirk was playing on Grenet´s lips: “Are you sure you can bear it, my little screamer? You should run away before you start crying.”

Just looking into those crazy eyes and hearing these words threw any possible Jin´s doubts out of the window.

“Say my regards in Hell,” he hissed and turned away.

“I´ll see you there soon, Akanishi! And then we can play again, huh? I´ll see you there!!”

Jin ignored the desperate mocking and merged with the gathered crowd. He found Kame and stood by his side, focusing his eyes on the events in the middle of the circle, determined not to look away.

It was not long before the Indian warriors started to move in the speeding rhythm of drums and started dancing around the stake, giving out loud cries.

Later on, Jin would have described the whole situation as a dream. Unreal, but still lively enough, when the first Sioux disrupted the dancing circle, stood in front of the stake and released an arrow from his bow. The tied man yelled some curse, swirling in pain, when other two arrows pierced his thighs shortly after that.

Jin didn´t understand what Grenet said, though they were not so far away. His senses were strangely subdued, as his eyes were watching the scene, coldly evaluating the progress step by step.

The Indians were clever. They started with the legs, causing only mild injuries, so that the man would not lose too much blood at once. After arrows, it was the daggers´ turn, which headed mostly for the shoulders and arms. Then they brought a kettle full of hot coals. Jin figured what was it for only when they picked one carefully and pressed it against the man´s stomach. His enemy and tormentor screamed and yelled and cursed, but nothing could shake with the composure of Indians who continued in their task, accompanied with the strengthening humming of their red brothers and heavy drums.

Jin didn´t even realize that he was clenching his fists, until they started to hurt him. He still clearly remembered the pain that man caused him in the past and the Indians were just as heartless to him now. The Sioux rebels had the reason for it; they wanted their revenge, just as him and Kame. Grenet tortured people because he enjoyed it. Jin had no compassion for the man in this regard at all. It was only right that the man would find out just how much pain he caused to the others.

But… but still… Something in Jin stirred listening to those screams. Didn´t they do enough already? Grenet met his fate in the hands of Indians, but what good it was for them to watch the man suffer in agonizing pain? There was this dark satisfaction; Jin couldn´t deny that those finally reversed roles, when Grenet suffered such an agony was satisfactory. But still, it was not right…

In the bloodthirsty atmosphere, all Indians joined the dark singing as the tormentors peeled the stripes of skin off Grenet´s back. The tortured man screamed with each of them, as the blood flooded down his legs. It was a horrible and bloody performance to watch, and it was not about to end yet, as Jin realized, when the tallest Indian of all, their English speaking leader, approached the stake with a sharp blade in hand.

Seeing the Indian invoking Manitou to help him in his task, it ripped Jin out of the dark enchantment. He turned to Kame and he knew that it was damn enough. The younger one was standing there next to him, totally motionless and pale, only his eyes were proof of that he was still alive. Kazuya´s look didn´t wander of that ugly scene even for a second.

 _Wrong… wrong… wrong…_ was running through Jin´s mind.

He grabbed the younger one´s elbow: “Kame.”

There was no reaction at all.

“Kame!” Jin reached out and turned him aside by force. Kame blinked and his look returned to the presence. “This is enough,” he stated emphasizing each word. “Let´s go.”

Kame stared at him as if he saw Jin for the first time ever, while the hoarse screams from Grenet´s throat filled the air again.

“I… I have to watch this…” Kame reacted hoarsely.

“No! This is not what your mother would want, is it?! This is _not_ you!”

“But I am,” the younger one replied quietly. “This is how I am now…”

It was as if he got a hard blow to his head, that was how Jin felt, seeing the irreversibly changed look of his lover.

Another inhuman scream cut the air. Kame´s eyes looked back to the stake, Jin´s ones right after that too, as if it was impossible not to glance that way. The streamlets of blood were flowing down Grenet´s face, so that he looked like a bloody monster with his mouth still open in painful screaming. The Sioux leader scalped Grenet alive.

The gathered savages burst out in celebratory shouts and Jin´s stomach made a somersault.

“Enough…” without asking anymore, Jin strengthened the grip around Kame´s elbow and dragged him away from that horrible performance. The younger one didn´t fight back and he let Jin lead him away from the circle.

Neither of them saw the wide stare of one Indian, who noticed their departure from the opposite side of the crowd…

*

They didn´t know the exact way back to their horses, so they just reached the last Indian shelter, and ended up sitting in the grass in front of the tipi, in silence, still hearing the sounds coming from the stake, which lasted for another hour. But it felt more like an eternity…

When the tortured man´s screams finally ceased, as well as the drums, they sat there for a long while, while the Indians started slowly returning to their usual tasks.

Jin wanted to say something, but he didn´t know what without stirring in the whole matter unnecessarily. It was Kame, who broke the silence in the end. His voice was husky and his eyes buried to the ground, but still he seemed to be calmer than before.

“Thank you for… dragging me away, Jin. I wanted to leave, but… I couldn´t move.”

“You don´t have to explain…”

“No, let me… I need to say this…” the younger one insisted. “The truth is that… a part of me wanted to stay and watch till the end no matter how horrible it was.”

“As I said, you don´t have to explain, Kame. I felt the same way…”

The younger one finally raised his eyes to connect them with Jin´s.

“It´s over,” the older one emphasized firmly. “He cannot reach us or anyone else anymore. That´s what matters…”

With that, they could reconcile somehow with what they committed, but they both knew, without saying it aloud, that it changed them forever…

*

It was Nepotonje, who found them there, still sitting. The Indian stared at them for a moment, before he walked away, only to be right back with some leathered bottle.

“Drink,” he told them simply and left again.

Jin reached for the unknown liquid as the first. It was sweeter than any alcohol of the white nation, but it still had a good kick. He took two gulps before almost forcing the bottle to Kame. The younger one was more careful with drinking, but didn´t refuse it. Then the tall Sioux leader appeared, took the bottle back from Kame and drank as well, before sitting down opposite to them.

“You shock?” he asked after a while of thinking.

“You might say that, yes,” Jin reacted nodding.

“You did good thing,” the Sioux announced. “That man monster. Must be done.”

They didn´t react on that.

“White faces weak and blind,” the Indian assumed. “Not see this Manitou. Everything.”

“Our habits are different,” Kame said. “But that doesn´t mean that we don´t understand.”

Sioux nodded: “You back now, come,” he stood up and called other two Sioux, who were supposed to lead them back to their friends.

At the moment, Jin wanted nothing more than to be gone from that village. They covered Kame´s eyes first, and then it was his turn. But in the last second, he stopped the Indian´s wrist.

“Wait!” Jin stared in the direction of a few Sioux, who were holding another one back, trying to seize him. As if the red man wanted to get to them, but the others wouldn´t let him. Jin didn´t believe his own eyes. “I said wait!” he snapped at the Indian, who wanted to cover his eyes again and turned to Kame. “Pull it off!”

“What´s going on, Jin?” Kame asked.

“Just… Nah!” Jin pushed away the Sioux, who was not so willing to clear the way. “I´ll take it off for you.”

He pulled the cloth away hastily and uncovered Kame´s surprised eyes.

“Look behind me and tell me that I´m hallucinating,” Jin requested.

Kame obeyed and his eyes widened in shock: “Oh my…”

 _Not a hallucination then_ , Jin figured.

He recognized the struggling Indian as well – it was nobody else than Kame´s blood brother – Liwan.

 


	43. Steps to love

**K** ame set off so promptly, that Jin had barely time to blink and the younger one was already a few paces away.It was admirable that two Indians were quick enough to step into the rushing youngster´s way and prevent him from getting further.

“Let me pass!” Kame snapped harshly, not bothering with the Indian language anymore. “I want to talk to him!”

“With whom?” the frowning Sioux leader asked, obviously confused.

“That Indian who´s not from your tribe!” the agitated Rider gestured towards the still struggling group.

“How you know him?” there was a surprised reaction.

“He´s my blood brother,” Kame reacted without any hesitation.

The tall Sioux stared at him rather incredulously, repaying Kame´s burning glance for a while, before he turned and called something at his warriors. The Indians seemed to be surprised, but they obeyed an order and instead of holding Liwan back, they moved with him in the direction he wanted to go all along.

As they came closer, Jin noticed that the expression of the Indian shaman was pretty much just as bewildered as Kame´s was. But more importantly, both Liwan´swrists and ankles were shackled with some old rusty chains, leaving the young red man only a little of space for moving around. That didn´t seem well…

The tall Sioux pointed at the bounded Indian: “He our captive.”

Only very unwillingly, Kame tore his eyes off Liwan and focused back on the rebels´ leader: “A captive? Why?” he requested an explanation. “What did he do?”

“Enemy tribe,” a dry reply came.

Kame clenched his hands into fists: “Don´t start with _this_ again!” he commented rather angrily. “It´s foolish to cling onto hostility between your tribes even in these times!”

The Sioux leader obviously didn´t like such an attitude: “You be silent. None your business.”

Regretting that they agreed to leave their weapons behind, Jin looked around the unfriendly expressions of other Indians. Some revolvers would come really handy now… He approached Kame and placed a hand on his shoulder in a warning gesture.

Kame took a deep breath: “It _is_ my business! He´s my best friend and brother!” he was trying hard to control his emotions, but obviously, there had been too much stress on the younger one for one day. “I won´t leave him!”

The Sioux circle around them tightened, as more Indians gathered, attracted by the heated voices and their leader didn´t seem to be open to any friendly discussion. The whole situation could go to hell soon…

Suddenly, Jin was enlightened with an idea: “You said that we can have a wish for bringing Grenet to you!”

“That I did,” theSioux replied, though not very happily.

“So, we have one now,” Jin announced. “Him,” he nodded towards Liwan.

Kame turned to him with a grateful expression and Jin squeezed his shoulder.

“Demanding now?” the leader´s dissatisfied growl was supposed to intimidate them, but it would take much more of it to be working on the two of them.

“Give that Indian over to us and consider the debt paid,” Jin insisted.

“You gave your word,” Kame joined him. “Does it have any value?”

All the Indians, who gathered around them by that time, were looking quite upset now, and their leader the most of all. But fortunately, the tall Sioux held his promises. Frowning as the devil himself and with some probably very vulgar Indian words coming out of his mouth, but the result was all the same. The Indians released their firm grip, let Liwan go and one of them unlocked his chains, though it took some time thanks to all that rust.

Jin had never seen the young shaman with such a surprised expression as in that moment. Liwan had literally become a breathing statue. It was Kame, who broke the still moment and approached his Indian brother, grabbing both his shoulders. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. Then Liwan stuttereda few words in the Indian language, still too surprised to move. Jin looked around at the Sioux, who were watching them with very hostile expressions.

“I thought that you´re long back in Montana…” Kame spoke first.

“Brother…” Liwan breathed out, as if only after hearing the other´s voice he was willing to admit that Kame was really there. “What are you doing here?”

“I wonder the same about you, Bear,” Jin noted.

“Akanishi,” Liwan acknowledged his presence by nodding his head. “Good to see you in one piece.”

“You too,” Jin smirked.

“What happened, Liwan?” Kame wondered.

“I think it´s better to explain later,” the Indian reacted. “If we can…” he glanced at the Sioux leader.

“Get out!” the Indian snapped and turned away from them, ordering something to the other two warriors, probably to show them out. “Do not come back. Never,” he growled over his shoulder and marched away.

“You don´t have to worry about that,” Jin murmured. “Let´s go before they reconsider…” he took both unmoving Liwan and Kame by their elbows and pulled them after the two grumpy Sioux, so that they could finally leave the rebels´ camp and the corpse of Math Grenet behind…

***

 

“Bloody hell, guys… What´s up now?” Ryo sighed, after the Sioux left them and it was clear that one of the Indians was about to stay with them.

“Don´t tell me you´re feeling lonely in our company!” Koki joined him, pointing at Liwan, who was standing by the side of a sturdy horse, which Sioux let him take along.

“This is Liwan, my blood brother from the Blackfeet Tribe,” Kame introduced the new member of their little company.

“From Montana?” Ryo raised his eyebrows. “What´s he doing _here_ then?”

“I was captured by Sioux;our tribes are old enemies,” Liwan explained for himself.

“You were a captive?”

“Then how did you manage to get him out of there?”

Both Riders were equally confused.

“We asked them to set him free as a gesture of gratitude for bringing Grenet,” Jin reacted and patted Liwan´s shoulder. “It seems to me you were incredibly lucky, Bear.”

“I think the same,” Liwan reacted with asmall smile.

“Well… Welcome in our brotherhood then, red brother!” Koki grinned and shook Liwan´s hand so vigorously, that he almost got the Indian out of balance.

“And… what about Grenet?” Ryo asked seriously then.

“He´s dead,” Jin announced briefly. “And he had no easy departure from this world, I guarantee you that…”

Both other Riders repaid his look for a while, before Koki nodded: “Good,” he said, being just as concise.

*

After the quick discussion, they agreed upon leaving the Baxter Peak that very day. They didn´t want to wait for Sioux rebels to change their mind.

Now a five-member group traveled down the hill and then alongside the small stream, heading south-east, towards the road which would lead them back to Denver. But it was late and they didn´t manage to get far before sundown. Fortunately, Liwan knew about a good place where they could spend the night. Since it was already getting dark, when they got there, it took them a while to realize, that it was a really special spot.

The unusual lake was located between the two ranges of tall mountains, on the huge ledge created by the ages-ago-broken rock. The river had found its way there and after centuries managed to create a spacious green lagoon with amazingly clear water. The bank was wide enough, so they didn´t need to worry about falling down into the open space under the ledge, which was definitely about to show them a beautiful view in the morning.

Finally, they could rest, which was much welcomed mainly by Jin and Kame, who were not yet in their best condition and their wounds still ached a lot, though they didn´t complain about it aloud.

*

Once again, after a long time, when his life seemed to be just a series of unfortunate events, Liwan was immensely grateful for Great Manitou´s goodwill and ashamed that he ever doubted it. On the other hand, it was understandable that he was already desperate after spending long weeks in the captivity of hostile tribe, not being able to get back to his father and small sisterin Montana…

During their farewell near the city of white men called Cheyenne, Kame had feared that Liwan might come across troubles with Crows Indians. But those were too scattered through the country, most of them being forced to live in reservations. It was Lakota Sioux, who were more organized into big groups and unfortunately Liwan encountered one of them.

They didn´t kill him, as their tribes were not at war; they made him their captive instead. They made Liwan help with anything necessary and they even wanted to integrate him into their tribe, when they found out about his shamanic roots. It was not so uncommon; sometimes the Indian villages even adopted the kids from another tribe. But their leader had changed his opinion after Liwan tried to escape.

They put him in chains instead of ropes and all Sioux were told to be on high alert since then. It was impossible for Liwan to flee without getting himself killed. And he wanted to get to his small sister and the rest of the Blackfeet Tribe alive. So, he did his best to be patient and waited for an opportunity, even though it was harder with each day…

The Sioux kept moving their village from one place to another, so Liwan assumed they needed to remain hidden. He half-expected some soldiers to come after them, hoping that he could use some distraction to get away, but they never encountered them so deep in the mountains.

In the end, something what he wouldn´t even dreamt of happened. His dearblood brother appeared, along with his cheeky boyfriend, and negotiated his freedom. Liwan believed it could not be a coincidence; it was Manitou´s will.

The young shaman told the Riders his story and then he heard out what was going on with Kame and consequently with Akanishi in the meantime. Neither of them talked for long and Liwan realized that they provided him with a very short version of their adventures. But even that small piece surprised, shocked and terrified him. Mainly, because of how his blood brother looked like.

It was a shock for Liwan to see Kazuya so… changed. The younger one was full of energy and hopes when they parted back then, but now he was just a shadow sinking in dark silence. There was hidden much more behind the words they told him, he was sure of it. Anyway, he was glad that Akanishi was also alright and their new friends seemed to be a little annoying, but good guys; Kame was in a good company. Liwan figured that the main reason for Kame to be so gloomy would be the man who was tortured to death by the stake in the Sioux village…

Back then, Liwan hadn´t recognized Math Grenet at first, under all that screaming and blood, but once he had noticed that Kame and Akanishi were present at the bloody ceremony, he had no doubts about the man´s identity. They encountered the bad spirit again and they won, which was a great result of their long fight. Therefore, he was clueless about why they didn´t seem to be happy about it…

“There´s really no chance of being bored with you two around, seriously,” the blonde Rider concluded their narrations. “You always come up with something new.”

Liwan smiled on that: “I must agree.”

Jin and Kame, sitting on the other side of the fire, with a somewhat careful distance between them, remained silent.

“So… What now?” Ryo brought up. “Time to move on, isn´t it?”

“We should catch up with my brother as soon as possible,” Jin agreed and then turned to their new companion. “We have some other issues to deal with, but I suppose that you want to head home, right?”

“Exactly,” Liwan nodded seriously. “I´ve been held back for too long…”

“I understand. Ryo, can you pull out the map?” Akanishi asked the black-haired one.

When the worn-out map was spread over the flat stone near the fire, all of them gathered above it.

“We can travel together tillLongmont,” Jin pointed at the small dark spot north of Denver.

“But then we will have to separate,” Ryo tapped the city far in the north east. “Hereford is easily approachable from the south.”

“That´s right. Bear, you should head to Montana directly from Fort Collins…”

“I´m aware of that,” Liwan nodded at Akanishi´s remark, but he was looking at Kame while saying it. His white brother was suspiciously quiet once again.

“Are we going to set off right in the morning then?” Ryo suggested.

“Sure,” Jin agreed.

“I think you two should rest more,” the young shaman stated seriously, making all Riders look at him. But the Indian´s attention was only at Jin and Kame. “You´re in pain, I can tell. You should rest and let your wounds heal properly.”

“I´m fine to travel, Liwan,” Kame reacted quietly. “You don´t have to worry about that.”

“Me too,” Jin joined him.

“You lie,” Liwan hold onto his disagreement. “Both of you.”

“Hey, hey! No need to argue about something like that, right?” Ryo cut into the not very nice exchange of opinions.

“Let´s sleep on it, what do you say?” Koki supported his buddy quickly. “We can decide tomorrow morning…”

 

It was a reasonable proposal, and all of them agreed with it. But when the morning came,it had been decided already, and that without Jin or Kame having any word in it. Ryo and Koki obviously thought that Liwan was right and they intended to make those tworest no matter their objections…

“Leaving without us or what?” Jin, who just managed to dig himself up from the blanket, gaped at Ryo and Koki already in the saddles.

“Of course not, what would you do without us,” the blonde one grinned.

“Just going for a little hunt,” Ryo reacted, while checking his rifle.

“Hunt?” Kame sat up at his sleeping spot on the opposite side of the fireplace than Jin´s one was.

“Yes, we need supplies,” Liwan took a word, as he stopped above his blood brother. “All of us, for the journey. This is good surroundings, a lot of wildlife, good hunt. It´s no good around Denver.”

“Then we can also…” Jin started, but he was interrupted right away.

“You two – rest,” Liwan literally ordered them. “You are no good if you are not healed completely.”

“Stop glowering, Jin,” Ryo laughed. “You should be glad.”

“Exactly, you´re going to just lie around, while we will run our asses out in the woods,” Koki didn´t forget to complain.

Liwan squatted to Kame with Ryo´s map in hand: “Here, you see? That´s Defiance, the colony down in the valley. We meet there tomorrow at noon, and then continue the journey,” the shaman announced and straightened up again, without waiting for their reaction.

“I wonder who put you in charge all of the sudden,” Jin growled, as the Indian mounted his new stallion.

“You can thank me later,” Liwan reacted calmly, but not without a mocking undercurrent in his voice. “Defiance is not far, you can set off tomorrow morning,” he added and turned his horse away from them.

“See you!” Ryo did the same, waving at them shortly.

“Take your time, guys,” the blonde Rider winked and followed the other two as well, leaving the two speechless guys behind.

*

Kame watched the Riders and their Indian ´guide´ disappearing between the rocks silently. They didn´t have to leave them behind, it was not like that they couldn´t move or something. But Liwan was just trying to help them; Kame realized that.

The young shaman had probably noticed that something was wrong, apart from their fresh injuries, and wanted to give them some space to sort it out, so he persuaded the other two as well. But still, it took him a while to stop being upset about his red brother concerning about that. Their issues with Jin were just theirs to solve.

Kame sighed, suppressing the urge to lie down again and get lost in sleep. Liwan was not at fault here. The truth was that he didn´t want to stay alone with Jin. He knew that he couldn´t avoid that so necessary talk forever, but he was not ready for it yet…

“Well… I´m gonna gathermore wood for the fire then,” Jin said, already getting up, and obviously trying not to burden his right leg much. “We´ll need it, if we follow that precious advice and stay here for another night…”

“That´s right,” Kame agreed quietly. “I´ll feed the horses then and…. I´ll prepare some fresh bandages too, for dressage.”

Jin stared at him for a moment, before he nodded and took off, limping a little.

*

Everything they did took place in awful silence.

Kame kept walking around, trying to occupy himself with various things, but it was impossible to do it for the whole day. Eventually, they had to end up sitting by the fire, with only the sound of falling water and singing of birds surrounding them.

Kame stared into the flames, almost scared to start talking. Since the morning, Jin seemed to be thoughtful as well, but now, he was looking directly at Kame and he knew there was no way out of it anymore…

“We need to talk,” to the younger one´s surprise, Jin was the one who started it, with a serious expression.

“Yes, we do…” Kame breathed out.

“Then I´m listening,” the older one said in a tense tone. “What is eating you up so much?”

Suddenly, Kame couldn´t remember all those things he wanted to say, feeling too anxious under that dark look.

“What? You thought that I don´t see it?” Jin seemed to be quite upset.“You don´t talk, you barely eat and you keep avoiding me as if I hadcholera or something…”

Kame gulped down heavily. He should have realized that Jin had already known him too well: “I´m sorry…”

“Don´t be sorry and spitit out already!” the older one snapped, obviously already out of patience.

Kame opened his mouth, praying for his determination not to leave him: “I was thinking… about us.”

Jin frowned and didn´t say anything. Kame avoided those deep eyes, rather focusing on the restless surface of the pure lake. It was even harder than he had thought it would be…

“And… we should end it, Jin,” speaking those words made Kame feel nauseous, but he ignored it, clinging onto the conviction that he came up with the only right decision.

“ _End_?” the older one repeated in a stiff voice. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Your brother was right. What we´re doing, it´s… we should get realistic about it,” hardly ever Kame was as lost at words as in that moment. “Before we end up regretting it and blaming each other...”

“ _Are you breaking up with me_?” the question was raised in an absolutely incredulous tone.

“I think it´s for the best for both of us,” Kame reacted with a painfully beating heart.

Jin took a deep breath: “Why?” his voice scratched as a growling tree in the strong wind.

“I´ve just told you…” the younger one finally dared to look up and regretted it immediately. Jin´s eyes made him feel even worse than he already did. “I don´t want to spoil your future, Jin.”

“Really?But you´re doing exactly that right _now_!” Jin reacted fiercely.

“I cannot give you what you want!” Kame objected unhappily.

“Obviously, you have _no idea_ what I want!” the older one burst out, his fist hitting one of his knees.

Kame was hopelessly trying to get rid of an anxious lump in his throat: “If it´s _me_ what you…”

“Of course, it´s _you_ , damn it!” Jin didn´t even let him finish. “Why would you think anything else?”

“But that´s how you feel _now_ …” Kame tried to persuade him. “You said that you want to have a family once, don´t you? And we can never be that, Jin.”

The older one stared at him in pure disbelief: “Do you really think that with our lifestyle I give a damn about the _future_? We can be dead tomorrow and you expect me to be planning a peaceful family life?” Jin got really upset now. “ _I want you_ and that´s what matters the most!”

Kame avoided that sharp fiery look; he couldn´t bear with it anymore. Jin was right about their circumstances not being exactly in favor for any bright future planning and a part of him was also foolishly happy for those words, but still…

“This is not only about what my brother said, is it?” Jin suddenly asked with a surprising certainty. “There´s something else on your mind.”

“Jin…” Kame sighed. “I just don´t want…”

“What bullshit did that bastard tell you?”

The younger one stiffened after that open question.

“Don´t tell me you actually _care_ about anything Grenet let out of his filthy mouth!” Jin stood up on his feet, staggering a little on his wounded leg, before he found his balance. “It´s not worth a single thought!”

“You don´t know what…” Kame reacted weakly, feeling his hands shaking a little.

“And I don´t even need to! It doesn’t matter what he babbled!” Jin leant down, grabbed Kame´s elbow and pulled him up roughly. “Look at me and tell me, that you take Grenet more seriously than me?” he reproached him angrily.

“Of course, I don´t!” Kame reacted almost horrified. “It´s not like that. I just thought that… It´s too complicated for both of us. I´d hate if you felt that you have no choice. You can have a normal relationship, Jin, you´re not like me…”

Jin´s jaw dropped at that: “ _No choice_?” he repeated almost wheezing, and his fingers around Kame´s arm clenched so hard that it hurt.

Kame stared at the older one with his eyes widened, finally realizing that he was a total idiot, blinded by fear of being hurt again. But it was too late to apologize; he could see that in Jin´s eyes. He wanted to say at least something, but Jin was faster.

“I want to be with you because I love you!”

Kame´s heart stopped beating for a while, before it stumbled in a sweetly painful somersault.

“There´s nothing complicated about that, Kazuya…” Jin added a little breathless, with his eyes shining with emotions, as he let him go and stepped away. “But until you get those stupid ideas out of your head, we have nothing to talk about,” he finished in a little harsh tone again, turned on his heel and left Kame alone.

*

Kame stared into the void in front of him, where his lover´s face had been only seconds ago. He wanted to call after Jin, but he couldn´t find his voice. He sat down hard back on the ground, still with a ticklish feeling in his heart.

Usually, it was Jin who seemed to be blind to what was obvious to Kame. But right now, _he_ felt as the most foolish, sand-blinded coward in the world.

He was so convinced that breaking up would be the right choice for both of them, but in truth, he was just scared. After he had heard the Akanishi brothers´ argument, the idea of Jin leaving him sometimes in the future kept swirling in his mind. And although he tried to deny it even to himself, the mockeries and cruel remarks of Math Grenet just piled up to that and blinded Kame with fear that some of them might have a point. It made him doubt Jin and he didn’t even realize it.

Even though he thought that he was strong to come to that decision and remind Jin of his freedom, the very opposite was true. He couldn´t bear with the idea of losing his lover and it didn´t allow him to notice that Jin really cared about him just as much as he did about the older one. What did he think, telling him those things?

They went through so much together, Jin risked his life for him and here he went ahead and told him that he didn´t want to be with him anymore. Of course, that Jin was angry… and hurt. Kazuya felt as if he had lost his sense, back then, down in the quarry. How could he ever think that Jin would agree with their breakup just because he was afraid?

Kame blinked. His eyes were pinching sharply and his throat was squeezed with suppressed sobs. He frantically wiped his wet cheeks, clinging onto the rest of self-control he had and looked around.

Where could Jin go? He had to find him and… and what? He didn´t know yet, but just by sitting here on his ass, he wouldn´t solve anything…

*

Two pairs of animal eyes were watching the younger Master as he stood up and then left in the track of the older one, somewhere alongside the bank of that strangely bright puddle of water.

Kuro turned his look to Ukushi. The mare nodded her noble head. And then both animals resolved to watch over the temporary camp and their Masters´ property, until the two of them would be back again.

*

Rushing around the beautiful lakein the direction Jin left, Kame stumbled over stones and dry twigs, as he didn´t pay much attention to the ground under his feet.

The sun above his head was focusing its warm beams right at the peaceful lagoon, revealing its crystal-clear water in its full glory and dancing in the little waves, which made the whole surface glitter as if the lake was made of gold coins. Some birds were playing hide and seek in the tree tops above the rock overhang, which were otherwise almost completely still, without any wind which would stir with their green clothes. Kame did not perceive any of those natural beauties; his mind was focused only on finding Jin.

He came to one of the steep rocky walls, which protected the ´hanging´ lake from its sides and almost panicked, when he found out that there was nowhere to go from that spot. But then he noticed a pair of high riding boots casted off under the bush and also a warm dark vest with black trousers left on the wide stone next to it, everything just a foot away from the lake shore.

Taking a deep breath, Kame made one step, after that another and only then he could see behind the bulging rock which was hiding the irregular line of relatively short waterfalls in front of his eyes. The sharp angle of the early afternoon sun blinded him for a few seconds. When he could see again, he finally noticed the waves splashing around thighs in underpants.

Half-naked Jin was standing right under one of the glistering waterfalls, the golden trickles soaking his black hair and making it even darker, before continuing down his exposed neck and scarred back. His head was bent, with the chin almost resting on his chest, and his eyes were closed, as the young gunslinger let the cold flood wash the dirt and dust away.

For a few seconds, Kame just stood there frozen, mesmerized by that dazzling view. Not for the first time he wondered if he had a right to claim somebody so handsome for himself. It was incredible just how much he was influenced by Jin´s presence… Kame shivered, when he realized once again, how stupid he was. He could never ever let Jin go; it was far too late for that.

Before he could lose courage, Kame hastily pulled off his shirt, kicked off his shoes and stepped into the lake. It was cold, much colder than he had expected. In the middle of May, the spring sun was just playing games with them. Despite being bright and hot, it was not able to warm up the chilly waters from the mountains yet.

Kame strained his muscles and made another careful step. It would take some time before he would get used to the temperature, if ever, but that didn´t matter. Some cold water couldn´t stop him from going to Jin. His bare feet slipped on the stones a few times, but step by step he reached the splashing waterfall, the water reaching up to his thighs now.

Jin´s wide back was right in front of his eyes now, all wet from the falling water. The older one´s hands were clenched into fists and only now, Kame could notice his hard and shaking breathing.

He raised his hand, but in the last second, he reconsidered. Holding his breath, he walked through the waterfall to the other side. Thousands of ice needles pinched his bare skin, but surprisingly, his not-yet-healed back didn´t protest as much as he thought against the cold shower. Shaking a little, he stopped right in front of Jin. The older one stiffened, when he noticed his presence and then he straightened up slowly.

The wall of falling water was between them, recreating naked Jin into the half-blurry, half-painfully clear picture, which made Kame´s stomach flutter. The older one didn´t move from his spot; he was just watching him through the goldish curtain. Shaking from cold, Kame made his legs move again to make that last step, which separated him from getting close enough. His face and hair and chest ended up being poured with that freezing coldness again, but he didn´t care, because something warmer than the sun was expecting him right behind it.

Kame didn´t allow himself to be discouraged by the unreadable expression on the face of his lover. Jin eyes were shining in all that light, which flooded them and Kame would be happy to sink in them forever, no matter the consequences. He leant forward and attached his mouth to the firmly closed lips.

With the sparkles of water still falling at them, it was wet and cold and anxious, but Kame gave as much of his apologetic feelings as he could into the short, loving kiss. He felt nervous, when he slowly pulled away and looked to the other one´s eyes again; a little afraid of what he would see in them. And then he almost choked on own breath, when he realized that it was deep dark desire, still chilled with sparkles of anger, what appeared in Jin´s eyes…

 

When not even the waterfall of damn cold water was able to chill the indignant anger Jin felt, he had almost given in to it. But considering that his fists were no match to the rocks around, he remained still, hoping that the swirl of emotions would slow down eventually.

He didn´t get it. Why Kame always saw the worst in everything? Why did he doubt him after everything they had been through? Why was not clear to him what Jin felt?

Those and many other offended thoughts ran through his head, before Jin realized one small detail. All of those things were clear to _him_ , but Kame couldn´t see into his head and Jin had never said them aloud. Not until now, at least...

He said those words without thinking, in the burst of anger, but it didn’t make them any less real. Jin loved Kazuya with all his heart and he was not willing to let him go so easily now. And if the younger one didn´t get it, then he would have to go back to the camp and _explain_ it to him…

Irregular splashes of water indicating somebody´s presence disrupted Jin´s inner fight over emotions. Without opening his eyes, he knew - Kame came after him. But after that useless, foolish scene the younger one made, Jin would not make it easy for him.

He straightened up slowly, only then realizing that the waterfall did its work well, as that fiery anger finally seemed to be leaving him. Jin blinked the water off his eyes and focused on the slim figure standing behind the falling stream.

When Kazuya made that final step and approached Jin going through the curtain of water, his pained expression almost made Jin change his mind. He had a hard time to suppress an urge to hug the younger one and never let him go. But he remained still, when Kame gave him that anxious and yet sweet kiss.

Their connection was warm despite the omnipresent coldness. It tickled the nerves in Jin´s lips and sent the excited shivers into his whole body. Half-undressed Kazuya, completely wet,with the sun and regret in his eyes, shaking right in front of him, quickly switched Jin´s offended anger into awakening desire.

When the hell was the last time they kissed, actually? Pondering it, Jin remembered a hot session in the hay, but it felt like _ages_ ago. Since that so rare moment, they went through the pile of shit with Grenet, which brought them only more scars and bad memories. It had to be really difficult for Kame, when he tried to cover his worries and doubts, considering the result the younger one came up with. The realization of that bastard still influencing them like that, even after his death, made Jin almost furious again.

Jin pressed his lips together, once again hopeless against his emotions. Kame backed off with a little alarmed expression, but he didn´t allow him to move away even a step.

 

Kame felt as if the army of ants ran all over his skin, when his boyfriend finally moved and grabbed his arms right under the shoulders.

“Don´t think you can run off now,” Jin announced him hoarsely.

“I don´t even want to,” he said quietly with his throat squeezed.

“Good,” the older one reacted, before capturing the younger one´s lips in the demanding and rough kiss.

 

It took only a tiny moment, before Kame gave in and let Jin´s tongue explore further, his heart beating in happy fluttering. The older one was obviously still upset, and feeling his anger in the rough treatment of his lips make Kame´s knees kind of weak, but he was hopeless against it.

When Jin pulled back to catch a breath, Kame sucked on the tip of his retreating tongue a little and quickly slipped with both his hands up the older one´s chest and neck to keep him close. Connecting their lips again, he asked for more, feeling somehow safer with their lips busy doing this, instead of talking.

Jin tore away though and grabbed Kame´s waist, pressing the cold palms against his skin. With a devious shine in his eyes, he pushed surprised Kame back. The waterfall soaked them once again eagerly, before they both ended up behind it. And then Kame felt a hard, cold rock on his back, which screamed in protest, making him hiss a little, when Jin pressed him against it. But the older one´s lips on his made him forget the pain immediately.

Kame buried his fingers into the wet hair, when Jin´s hands went lower and caressed his hips, pressing himself against Kame´s crotch. The younger one shifted uncomfortably, feeling the raising pressure of the older one´s body. The chilly feeling was retreating quickly, being replaced by the growing hotness initiated by those demanding touches and kisses.

Feeling a hardening bulge in Jin´s pants, Kame had to give all his strength to tear away from him.

“Out… of the water…” he breathed out heavily.

The black orbs looked at him almost annoyed. Then Jin took Kame´s hand and growling something inaudible, he dragged him behind himself, through the sparkling waterfall and then towards the shore.

 

Jin had only as much patience as to lead Kame over the stony shore to the first trees and then he locked the younger one in his arms again, attacking those sweet lips. Kazuya´s slim body was still all slippery, but it was gradually getting warmer in older one´s eager embrace.

Kame moaned softly, when Jin slipped under his sticky underpants. He soothed the younger one´s awakening member in a deliberately strong and slow way, teasing also his balls on the way back. Kame gasped for breath between their kisses, quickly getting aroused.

Jin felt his pulse speeding up, with all the blood going into his own pride, and making him impatient. He glanced at Kame´s flushed expression and squeezed him down there once more. The younger one leant towards him, arching his back in longing for more. But Jin pulled his hand out, ignored Kame´s unsatisfied whimpering and then he knelt, suppressing a painful huff over the sharp feeling in his leg. Then he dragged the younger one down with him, to the grass and moss, forcing him to lie on his back.

Kame was breathing heavily, his chest going up and down in quick intervals, as he looked up to Jin who hovered above him, his hands busy with getting rid of the annoying wet cloth. Kazuya raised his arms to do the same for him, but Jin grabbed his wrists and pinched them down, alongside his head.

The older one leant down, so close that they could exchange breaths, but he didn´t touch Kame´s lips yet: “Did you really need to hear it so desperately?” he asked hoarsely.

The younger one´s eyes, full of shivering desire, widened: “Jin… I… I´m sorry…” he breathed out shakily. “I didn´t mean to…”

“Shut up, Kazu,” Jin interrupted him rather harshly and let one of his wrists go. “I´ve already told you not to be sorry,” he reminded him, as he reached for Kame´s member again.

Kame unsuccessfully tried to catch his breath to say something, as the older one teased him more urgently. He was just swirling hopelessly under Jin´s touches, which made the older one feel damn heated as well. Kazuya was only his, and no one else had the right to… to even touch him.

Back in the quarry, Kame told him, that he managed to defend himself from Grenet, but still, that trash definitely did something to him, even if it was only groping. Jin was seeing red imagining that. But he was about to erase all those memories, which could Kame ever had, and which made him feel so inferior, that he wanted to break up with Jin. All of them.

 

“You´re so stupid, my dear Kazuya,” Jin said, suddenly in a completely different tone, tearing Kame off the raising arousal a little and making him look up to that face, engulfed in sunlight, the dark hair falling around it and those eyes watching him so… lovingly.

Kame couldn´t speak or move, he could just watch, as Jin placed himself between his thighs, both his hands soothing him slowly, as he shifted with him into a more convenient position.

“So stupid…” Jin whispered.

Kame had to bit his lip, when Jin´s erect member suddenly thrust into him, without any previous preparation. It hurt, but at the same time it was too _satisfying_ to feel his lover so close again, to feel him inside himself.

“You are _mine_ ,” Jin stated hoarsely, before locking Kame´s lips in the lustful kiss, as he pushed further, very slowly now.

Kame felt as if he was on fire, hot and tingling feeling running all over his skin, and the ground under him was floating, as if they were on the boat. Jin was piercing him through greedily, deeper and deeper, and then he remained completely still. Kame couldn´t breathe, he couldn´t think and he almost choked on the raising desire for more. But Jin hadn´t moved for a long, long time, as if he wanted to punish him for his stupidity, or as if he was waiting for something…

“I am…” Kame whispered heavily against the hot lips, when they let him breathe for a moment. “I´m yours… I love you, Jin…”

The older one took a shaky breath and moved back a little, clenching the hips of his beautiful lover firmly. Then he slowly thrust inside Kame again, making him moan loudly now.

“And I will make you love me even more...” Jin panted and proceeded to another, torturing slow move.

Kame was desperately seeking for some balance in that drifting, which threatened to steal him of his sense. With one hand, he reached down for his cock, not being able to endure the temptation to go even higher, but a warm touch of strong fingers stopped him.

“Jin…” Kame stuttered helplessly. “Please…”

“No… No, Kazuya…” Jin whispered into his ear, already also panting heavily and swung his hips forward again. “I want you to come… just like that. With me inside of you…”

There was no space for doubts, or stupid ideas. All those cruel words, which were stuck in Kame´s mind before and disgusting touches he dreamt of were gone. There was only him and Jin now.

The older one´s hands reached for one of his thighs and raised it higher, before Jin made for another sweet torture. Kame adapted to it, locked his thighs around Jin´s waist, and both arms around his neck. With the next sexy move the older one made, everything dimmed in front of Kame´s eyes, and he forgot how to breathe for a moment.

 _Damn… What was that?_ He had never felt something so intense in one single moment…

Jin´s face acquired a satisfied smile: “There… right?” he breathed out and attacked Kame´s hole again, faster this time and with a clear goal.

“Damn it… Jin…” Kame groaned, not controlling himself anymore.

Jin pressed himself even closer, with a little amused smirk playing on his lips: “Yes, Kazuya?”

“Love me…” the younger one somehow managed to get the words out, but not being capable of anything more specific.

Jin cupped his face gently: “Anytime,” he whispered, before plunging inside his most sacred place again, making Kame moan in pleasure so loudly that it startled all the birds playing above them…

 

 


	44. Water dance

**E** xplosion of mind-blowing pleasure… Mutual satisfaction flooding all their senses… Curtain of sweet daze on unusually empty minds… Inseparably connected and indescribably happy… There was no wickedness, no cruelty, which could reach them.

Neither of the two lovers wanted to leave that unreal, distant world, in which they ended up after being thrown to the highest peak of delight. That feeling was such a soothing balm on their tormented souls…

But the persistent reality did not let them escape from its clutches for long. Slowly, but inevitably, their minds descended from those bright heights, being pulled back down, right onto the shore of one glittering lake in the middle of wilderness…

*

Kame found himself in a warm, loving prison of Jin´s body. He felt the older one´s hot breath on his neck, the black hair tickled his nose and the firm fingers were still holding his buttocks in a quite possessive manner. But his most intense perception was coming from the intimate connection between their legs…

A good half of Jin´s sexiest body part was remaining inside of him and the older one was obviously not willing to move away anytime soon. Enjoying that shivering sensation, Kame smiled and hid his face into half-dry hair of his boyfriend. Despite certain discomfort, having Jin´s warmth and heartbeat so close made Kame feel blessed…

 

The soft skin warmed up by the sun was sticky with sweat after the hot session, yet still clean and fresh thanks to the waterfall shower… Jin took a deep inhale of the sexy scent of that young man under him, who had just surrendered to him fully. Listening to the gradually slowing breathing and feeling the small chest rising along with it, filled Jin up with something what he hadn´t felt for a long time - with peace.

Kazuya´s arms were closely circled around his torso, as if the younger one feared that he would leave. But Jin had no intention to do something like that. He would have to be crazy to abandon that just recently pulsating hot cave, which pulled him up to heaven…

 

Jin placed a soft, butterfly kiss on Kame´s neck, directly on the spot, where the younger´s blood was pulsating. Then he approached his sweet lover´s ear: “I love you,” he whispered tenderly.

He just felt like he needed to say it again. Not in anger, but with that indescribable warm feeling in his heart.

Kazuya let out a soft, happy sigh. His hands moved, soothed Jin´s back up to the shoulders and further, burying fingers into his hair in a loving gesture.

The older one raised his head a bit, so that he could see Kame´s eyes and he looked to them for a while, searching for what scared and also angered him before… But at least for that moment, anything negative was gone. Not only Kazuya´s lips were spread in a smile, also his now almost goldish look was overfilled with joy.

Kame repaid his look, disentangled one of his hands from Jin´s hair and caressed the older one´s temple, cheek and then also lips.

“How did I deserve you?” he breathed out quietly.

“Since I ask myself the same question,” Jin reacted in a hoarse voice, leaning closer again, “I think the reply doesn´t matter.”

At first, their kiss was slow and gentle, but then Jin couldn´t resist and put more pressure into it, urging on Kame´s lips, which responded by letting him through willingly. He didn´t realize that he started moving, rubbing skin to skin eagerly, until Kazuya shifted under him restlessly and that made him stop. They were in quite a delicate position and just one look on Kame´s face told Jin that something was wrong.

The older one pushed himself up on both hands, sliding out from Kame completely, and moved to the side.

“What is it, Kazu?”

“My back…” Kame reacted, trying to suppress the pain in his voice, but he succeeded only partially.

Jin got to his knees right away: “Let me see,” he reached for the younger one´s hands and helped him to sit up carefully. He stiffened when he got to see the bruised skin and torn scabs, some even bleeding. “Why didn´t you say something?” he asked horrified, his throat tightening in anxiety. “I was… I was hurting you…”

To Jin´s surprise, Kame chuckled: “I assure you that it has started to ache only _now_ , Jin. I was too preoccupied with… _you_ to notice anything.”

Jin was not sure if he should have felt proud or guilty and unknowingly, he started looking for any other consequence of their loving on the younger´s body. Kame noticed it and hugged him around the neck.

“It´s not so bad, really,” he assured his worried lover. “It just needs to be cleaned up again. And your leg too, obviously…”

Jin glanced at his right thigh and remained staring at it in disbelief – the bandage was gone, revealing only a half-healed ugly hole. Only now, he realized that his leg was kind of numb and the surroundings of the wound was tingling and pinching at the same time.

“Well… We forgot ourselves a little, it seems…” he assumed sheepishly.

Kazuya moved closer to him, still hugging Jin firmly: “Do you want to forget again?” he whispered, trying to drive away unnecessary worries.

Jin´s smile spoke for itself: “Under one condition,” he reacted in a deep voice, circling a hand around Kame´s waist. “This time, you will let me take you right under that waterfall…”

Even though they had just had the hottest sex of their relationship, the younger one´s face blushed: “That sounds incredibly tempting, but…”

“But…?” Jin wondered with a mocking smile.

Kame sighed: “I think we should stick onto something less strenuous for now…”

“Why?”

“Well, try to get up for the start…”

*

Jin tried, and only then he fully realized that Kame was right. His wounded leg trembled heavily and he felt quite dizzy. Also Kame was dealing with pain, as he was slouching and biting his lower lip to suppress the curses. It was clear that for the moment, their bodies had more than enough of unplanned exercise and needed to rest a bit.

Supporting each other, they put on their underpants, which didn´t go without some teasing groping. Then they gathered also the rest of clothes and headed towards their encampment, leaving the swashing waterfall behind them…

 

By the time they got back to their patiently waiting animal companions, Jin was limping heavily, but no matter what he didn´t let the chance of washing Kame´s back in calmer water of the lake to slip away. And the younger one didn´t exactly complain, when Jin started to massage his shoulders gently, before proceeding to the careful cleaning.

Not surprisingly, they ended up kissing passionately, but only until Jin slipped on some stone and they both fell into the water. Coughing and laughing at the same time, they helped each other back to the shore, being watched by both Kuro and Ukushi in a somewhat tolerant way.

Finally behaving responsibly, at least for a while, Kame bandaged Jin´s thigh again and then he let the older one to do the same with the worst wounds on his back. And after the modest meal consisting of beans, some dry beef and a few potatoes baked in hot coals they finally followed Liwan´s orders to rest…

*

Kame took a liking to the hidden paradise from the moment they had arrived. Now, as he feasted his eyes on the peaceful view, resting in the arms of his handsome lover, he knew that it would have a special meaning for him forever.

He shifted a little between Jin´s long legs, attaching himself even closer to the chest behind him, even if it was already impossible and he closed his eyes. With the birds singing above them and the waterfalls humming nearby, comparing it with hours of physical and mental torture in Laporte quarry, it felt almost too good to be real. It was a special, rare moment and he was determined to savor it...

Jin´s arms, so far locked around Kame´s chest, slipped lower, as the older one let them rest on his stomach and his breath tickled Kame´s ear, when he spoke: “I´d advise you not to provoke me in this position much or we´ll end up in the water again.”

Kame smiled: “I wouldn´t complain about it,” he assumed innocently.

Right after that response, his space somewhat shrunk, as the long thighs closed around him more tightly. Jin´s lips approached even closer and kissed his earlobe, before biting it gently: “Teaser…”

“You´re the one to talk…” Kame forced through his throat, as the warmness from the provocative embrace flooded him.

He felt as Jin smiled against his skin. Then they both fell silent for a while.

“I´d like to stay here longer…” Kame sighed then.

“Yeah… Me too… Reality is a bitch.”

Another short silence was interrupted only by the sound of falling water. Then Kame opened his mouth again: “Speaking of reality…”

“Can´t we leave it for tomorrow?” Jin interrupted him immediately.

The younger one let go of a deep breath, not covering his relief. He felt it the same. They finally got to talk the things out and there wasn´t any issue to deal with right now, so they deserved to enjoy that rare opportunity of being alone and at peace fully. The reality stuff could wait.

He sunk into Jin´s embrace completely: “We can…”

“Good…” the older one reacted and seemed to ponder something for a while, before he continued. “I need you to promise me something,” he whispered into Kame´s ear again.

Jin´s voice was serious and Kame was not very willing to be pulled off his satisfied and calm state of mind, but still, there was nothing what he wouldn´t do for the older one: “What is it?”

“Don´t you ever think again that you´re not good enough for me…”

Hearing the request, Kame stiffened and opened his eyes. Exactly that was what he thought the day before…

“Not ever again,” Jin repeated persistently, when he didn´t reply. “Do you understand?”

The younger one pushedhimself away from the firm embrace, but only so that he could turn to face Jin and looked him in the eyes.

“I do,” he breathed out softly, before leaning closer and attaching to those so tempting full lips, even though they were tensely distorted. He didn´t have to wait long for the enthusiastic reaction of his lover…

Engulfed in the playful game of tongues and with their hearts beating in the same rhythm, once again, they both ceased to be aware of their surroundings, because nothing else mattered to them…

***

 

When the next morning brightened up the small hidden camp, the black stallion and the white mare were fully awake, playing some sniffing-snorting game, which had an understandable meaning only for them. They kept stomping the grass under their hooves lively and they were apparently all ready to set off to another adventure. Unlike their masters, who seemed deliberately ignoring the rising sun.

Kame awoke a while ago, but he didn´t feel like getting up yet and kept lying on his side. Jin was attached to his back, hugging him with one arm in a wealthy gesture andthe younger one didn´t want to wake him up. Not to mention that he felt too good in that position…

He heard their dear animals making some impatient noises and he realized that they should make up to them for the lack of attention later… Jin murmured something from his sleep and buried his nose into Kame´s hair. He couldn´t help but smile on that instinctive gesture, but only until the older one´s hand slipped from his chest lower, down across the stomach, slowly heading even lower. Then Kame started to feel too warm, especially when he noticed a suspicious twitching in the place where Jin´s crotch was.

Surprised, he turned his head to check on the older one and Jin stillseemed to be sound asleep. But when he tried to pull away, the older one strengthened his grip.

Kame gulped down heavily, when he realized that Jin was really hard… Not that it would make him feel uncomfortable, on the contrary, but still, he knew that he should escape from it, till there was time to do it.Jin was not exactly gentle the previous day and no matter how much Kame would love to let the older one take him again, he didn´t feel like dealing with it right away, with his hole tingling and still aching a little.

Carefully, but swiftly, he pushed the possessive arm away and slipped from under the blanket. Getting up on his feet, he straightened his back quite relieved. They slept for too long and it was right about time to get up anyway. He heard how Jin rolled on his back and huffed unsatisfied.

“Come… back… _here_ …” there came a request in a husky voice.

Kame glanced at his boyfriend carefully, getting exactly that dark, narrow look he had expected: “I think not…” he murmured. “We need to get ready and we overslept.”

The older one stared at him for a while, before he sat up suddenly, the disheveled hair all around his head: “Who cares?” he snapped and reached for Kame quickly, but the younger one was faster and stepped back.

“Get up, love, or you´ll miss breakfast,” Kame winked and fully being aware of being a coward, he headed to the lake. Some cold water seemed to be a perfect cure for his heated body… And in the end, Jin realized the same. Even though it took him so long that Kame had to threaten him with water shower right in the middle of his shelter from blankets…

*

They gave those few hours of free time left to their faithful animals. And it was really about time, since both Kuro and Ukushi played offended horses at first, refusing to obey, but it didn´t take long to persuade them. Kame took his mare to the lake first, and then also the proud stallion allowed Jin to lead him into the pure water. They agreed that their animal companions deserved some proper cleansing as well.

Jin almost forgot how amazing it felt, to be one with his horse, holding onto his back and mane without a saddle, as the stallion swam excitedly. They had rarely a chance to do something like that and he appreciated it all the more (because of that).

Kame apparently enjoyed their bath exactly as much, naturally merging with Ukushi´s movements. His expression was happy and bright, when they made circles around each other in the middle of the lake flooded by the sun, almost as if they were dancing in the water. And since they both left their shirts on the shore, Jin could also enjoy the view of the small nipples and flat stomach sprinkled with the drops of water…

Probably noticing his attention, Kame suddenly leant down and splashed some water right into Jin´s face, laughing like a kid, when the older one almost slipped down from Kuro´s back in surprise. But he gathered himself quickly and hit the water surface with all strength he got, catching Kame unprepared for the counter-attack. Their water battle didn´t take long though.

As if they agreed on it in advance, Kuro and Ukushi made a few sharp movements to the sides, kicking their legs under the water violently and literally shook both masters off their backs. Then they headed towards the shore all dignified, while the two youngsters were spitting water in the middle of the lake and the following burst of laughter resonated between the high rocks with a happy echo…

*

It took them twice as long as usually to pack up all their stuff and get ready for another journey, not to mention just another rebinding of their wounds. One day which they spent together in thesmall paradise was far from being enough and neither of them wanted to leave it so soon. But despite being short, that time somehow healed their souls, which carried so many scars already. It was about to turn into a strong, happy memory, which they would carry in their hearts from that moment on, and it made them feel stronger and connected to the other…

“How about we make a trip here someday again?” Jin suggested, holding Kuro´s reins, with his look focused on the humming waters on the opposite side of the beautiful lake.

Kame nodded right away: “If there is a chance…”

“There will be,” the older one stated firmly. “I want it as my birthday gift.”

“Oh, really? And are there any special requests included?” Kame asked mockingly.

Jin looked at him with a challenge in his eyes: “I don´t have to think about that long… You.Naked. Under the waterfall,” he announced in a deep voice.

Kame smiled in a very pleasant way: “Ah, of course, your wish will be granted,” he promised. “In July, then, correct? It surprises me that you want to wait for so long…” he added already on his leave, leading Ukushi towards the path down between the rocks.

Jin stared at Kame´s back almost terrified: “No, no, no… Wait! I didn´t think it like that!” he called, rushing after the younger one. “Wait! Kame!”

*

Liwan didn´t exaggerate when he claimed that their meeting point was not too far away.

First, they had to deal with the steep descent to the narrow valley, passing a few pitch-black entrances to the natural caves on the way, until they came across the river. Then they followed its flow down to the south west and it didn´t take long until they noticed the undeniable proof of the human civilization – the smoke of a few fires clearly visible against the blue sky.

The young Riders stopped their horses on the edge of the slope above not very far-reaching canyon, their eyes focused on the asymmetric cluster of hardly recognizable human dwellings, which didn´t exactly fit into the scenery.

“One more month and we´ll get to know Colorado better than Montana…” Jin assumed, pushing his hat back, so that he could have a better view of the mountain valley.

Noticing the not exactly happy tone of his lover´s voice, Kame looked at Jin curiously.

They had been through quite rough times ever since they joined the Black Riders, that much was true. But still, Colorado was a breath-taking country with all its natural beauty, even though it could be quite tough, too. And considering the point where they were now, all that travelling and problems seemed to be worth of it. At least, Kame wanted to believe so… And he also felt that it might be the time to say goodbye to this part of United States and go back home. The question was, if Jin´s thoughts were similar to his or not, considering his relationship with Leo…

Jin noticed the younger one´s gaze: “What is it?”

But Kame just smiled and shook his head. He didn´t want to spoil the atmosphere, not yet: “Nothing… Can we go? The others are probably already waiting for us.”

The older one kept silent for a while, watching Kame with a little strange look.

“Not yet,” he denied then and reached for Ukushi´s reins, pulling them gently out from Kame´s clasp to make the animal got closer to Kuro. “Not before I do this…” leaning forward, Jin overcame the space between them and attached to Kame´s lips.

Meeting him willingly, Kame sneaked with one of his hands around the older one´s neck, giving into the tickling sensation happily. Jin´s kissing turned urgent, and his hand let Ukushi´s reins go so that he could place it on the younger´s thigh. Kame put his tongue into the game first, licking Jin´s lips provocatively and the older one reacted to that right away, usurping that wet hot flesh and making Kame sigh…

Ukushi and Kuro moved, separating them from each other so suddenly, that they both almost fell down the saddles.

“What the…!” Jin snapped unpleasantly surprised, but shut up right away, when Kuro moved with his big head and he looked down the slope towards the road under it.

“Ah, it´s them…” Kame recognized the small group of three riders first.

“Yeah, they´re…” Jin confirmed kind of gloomily and glanced at the younger one. Their interrupted kissing left Kame´s taste on his tongue and he somewhat disliked that unfinished feeling...

Those three hadn´t noticed them up there yet, at least it didn’t seem so, as they continued riding in the direction of the small colony.

 _We will catch with them up soon,_ Jin realized frowning. _Too soon, damn it._

Who knew when he would be all alone with Kazuya again… Just imagining that they would have to hold back once more, made him upset. He was not sure from where that burning desire for the younger one came, since they did their best to release that sexual tension the day before, but he didn´t care.

“Get down,” Jin stated more harshly than he had intended and slipped down the saddle as the first.

“What?” Kame gasped surprised, when the older one took and pulled his hand to make him move faster.

Once also the younger one was safely on his two feet, Jin dragged him into the shadow of nearest tall conifers, out of sight of anyone around.

“Jin, what the hell are you doing?” Kame staggered behind him.“We could call after them, I´m sure that…”

The rest of his words were stopped from being said by the demanding lips, as Jin pressed Kame against the nearest tree bole and stole his breath.

Kame was a little surprised by the urgency of his boyfriend, but that didn´t mean that his heart would not start beating faster when Jin´s hand slipped down to his belt and started unclasping it hastily, while still kissing him.

When the older one let him breathe for a while, Kame realized that he already managed to slip his hands under Jin´s shirt and his legs were shaking a little in expectation of what that fire in Jin´s eyes meant.

“I assume you don´t need me under that waterfall after all…” he said shakily, as Jin pulled Kame´s trousers off the way impatiently.

“No,” the older one confirmed hoarsely, unbuttoning his own trousers too. “Right here will do…”

 

It was hard for Kame to subdue the moans of pleasure, as Jin kept plunging inside of him in a rushed, passionate way, from behind, so hard that Kame had to hold on the tree firmly, the hard bark scratching his palms. He knew he would feel this sudden, hot session of theirs long after, which would not make riding any pleasure, but at that moment, when he was about to lose his senses, he couldn´t care less… He would happily surrender to Jin over and over again, even though certain part of him would definitely had some objections against something like that. He loved everything what Jin was doing to him too much…

 

Being inside of Kazuya, feeling the walls of his hot tight ass around his aroused shaft, it was so damn incredible every time, that it felt like a dream. But the slim body shaking in his grip was too real for Jin to be dreaming. He had always felt that strange invisible connection to the younger one and when they merge into one body while having sex, that feeling was multiplied a hundred times. Jin almost thought that he would go crazy from pleasure every time when Kazuya´s inners tightened around him, as it was so much overwhelming…

 

Nothing could beat that incredible feeling as they flew up to the peaks of pleasure together. It was always so indescribably awesome. Being flooded with those feelings, everything else ceased to exist for the two. There was nobody else than the two of them, connected with love. The attraction they felt for the other was too tempting to resistdoing it again and again. And so they did, no matter circumstances, no matter consequences…

***

 

Defiance couldn´t be called a city, or a town, not even a village. Most of Indian reservations were of a bigger size than the camp of tents and poor shelters located directly at the confluence of two rivers. It was quite surprising that despite the small numbers of permanent inhabitants, it had two saloons and even a brothel, but on the other side, there was not a single piece of civilization in the Wild West, which would not have had that kind of establishments. It was said that a certain Isaac Cooper had big plans for the locality, since many hot springs had been recently found around. But at the moment, when two young men entered the camp, that dream was far from being realistic.

After Ryo evaluated the composition of people they passed, he understood why their new Indian friend wanted to stay out of it and waited for them outside the camp borders, at the river bank. Gunslingers, gamblers and prostitutes were mostly among them. Lucky for them they had a successful hunt, so they didn´t need many things to supply themselves. And no matter how much Koki pleaded, he didn´t let him slip into one of those dirty dives which they dared to call saloons and dragged him away right after they made a bit of shopping at the local grocery.

They got back to Liwan just in time, as the Indian was already looking out for the two riders, who appeared on the road towards Defiance from the same direction, from which they had arrived just an hour ago. The black stallion and white mare gave out their identity long in advance.

“Well, that´s a relief,” Ryo commented their approaching friends, as he jumped down his horse. “They didn´t drown each other in that lake…”

Koki chuckled: “I bet they were not far away from that…”

Liwan didn´t comment their mockery and kept watching their two lovebirds’ arrival with the hands crossed on his chest.

“Hey, guys!” Koki waved at the two vigorously, as if Jin or Kame could ever miss to notice his bright hair. Both noble animals stepped away from the narrow road by that time and soon they joined them at the river.

“You didn´t have to rush so much!” Koki continued his welcome. “I could grab a beer or two meanwhile.”

“I doubt that slush, which they would have given you there, could be called beer,” Ryo snorted scornfully.

“You would be amazed how wonderfully the liquids taste when you´re thirsty!” the blonde once countered.

Ryo pointed at the sparkling hectoliters of water: “You´ve got the whole river here then.”

Koki pouted and Jin, getting down his horse swiftly, laughed amusedly: “Absolutely no change here, I see.”

The black-haired Rider shrugged and Koki made some very vulgar gesture, but the Indian´s expression was serious, as he observed the younger of the two dismounting his beautiful mare much more carefully, seeming to be quite relived that he made it.

“Did you get anything good?” Jin wondered peeking inside the bag attached to Ryo´s saddle.

“I definitely recommend water; nothing from that store seemed to be drinkable,” the Rider announced quite sadly.

Jin put on a disappointed face, but reached for the flask of water Ryo thrusted under his nose nevertheless: “Water… Thank you very much,” he snorted.

Then, Liwan finally spoke as well: “Did you rest properly?” he asked in such an intentionally doubtful tone that Kame froze in the middle of step and Jin choked on the water.

The faces of both guys turned intotomato color, which was understandable in Jin´s case, since he almost coughed his lungs out, while Ryo was trying to help him bythumping him on the back, but not so clear in case of Kame, who just stood there, flushing to the roots of his hair.

“We…” Kame started hesitantly.

“I guess not,” Liwan interrupted him mercilessly. “But since it helped you two anyway…” he made a waving gesture, as if he was leaving the rest up to Manitou.

In that moment, Koki was choking on laughter, trying to hide behind his horse unsuccessfully and Kame was so red, that Ryo started to be worried for his health.

Jin finally stopped coughing and stared at the Indian: “You… You…” he wheezed.

“Yes, Akanishi?” Liwan turned to him with a curious expression. “Anything you would like to tell me?”

Jin opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“I thought so,” Liwan nodded, not impressed. “Well, since we are all here now, we can set off,” he stated and headed to his horse.

Kame seemed to turn mute and Jin was thunderstruck. When the older one finally tore his eyes of the Indian, he looked at Ryo. The black-haired Rider tried really hard not to start laughing, but the corners of his lips were twitching no matter the effort.

“Look… I… what do you think that…” Jin stopped talking, seeing that Ryo was really about to lose control.

“Relax, Jin,” Koki´s head popped up from behind his stallion´s body. “You don´t have to provide us with any details…” he grinned mockingly.

The older one´s jaw dropped, while Kame stared at their friends in disbelief. They should have been expecting it, but it was still just too surprising that the Riders took their relationship with such ease.

Liwan was already on the back of his horse, and Koki with Ryo followed his example. Jin and Kame looked at each other baffled. But then, a smile spread on their faces. Maybe that the attitude of their buddies was surprising, but at the same time relieving and definitely worth bearing with a few teasing remarks on their upcoming way to the east…

 


	45. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took me a while, but in the end, it´s done - the final chapter of RW II. is here!  
> At this moment, I´m not sure if I should feel satisfied or sad...  
> This finale turned out to be quite long, since I wanted to mention all important characters, so I hope you´ll enjoy it.  
> どうぞ, 楽しんで!  
> Douzo, tanoshinde! ^_^v

**T** he stench hovering over an unused sandstone trench was horrible, and seeing its source didn´t make it any better. Disturbed by the arrival of four people, the black swarm rose from the feast upon decomposing bodies and the deafening buzz of flies absorbed any other sound for a while.

Captain John Walker crouched to observe the Indian corpses properly. Painted clothing and necklaces with geometric design were also worn by other tribes, but the black painted stripes around sunken eyes didn´t leave him in doubt that he was looking at four Sioux rebels.

He straightened up again and turned to the sturdy man, who led him and his subordinates to that ugly spot on the far edge of the quarry.

“Were there not any more casualties on the Indians´ side?” John asked seriously.

The quarry guard spat out towards the bodies: “There were, dang it. But those shitty redskins dragged their precious little dead brothers away.”

“What about the workers then? How many of them were killed?”

“None,” the man replied in a disgusted tone. “Those lazy bastards hadn´t been here yet. Many guards were killed and some shift leaders. Almost twenty altogether.”

“That´s very regrettable,” he reacted and glanced at the corpses again: “You should bury them before some disease spreads around…”

“You´re kiddin´?!” the guard snapped. “It was pain in the ass to bury all of ours! I won´t bother with _these_!”

John suppressed an urge to roll his eyes: “At least burn them then, as soon as possible,” he recommended urgently. “It´s a necessary precaution, otherwise it might happen that this quarry will lose even more people.”

The irritated guard growled something, but didn’t argue with the military officer anymore.

“We can find our way back, thank you,” not really willing to spend more time with the nasty man than necessary, John turned to leave the smelly place, being followed by his first and second lieutenants.

Swiftly walking back to the very center of the sandstone valley, which was bustling with noise as the workers were put to work again, not very positive thoughts were going through the captain´s mind. These problems with Sioux were going from bad to worse and even though he had intended to solve it in the least bloody way, he was being pushed by his superiors to deal with the Indian rebels quickly and with a certain result. Another bloodshed seemed to be inevitable…

They passed around the pile of black debris, which was originally the main building of the whole quarry and John couldn´t help but glance at it with a certain feeling of _déjà vu_. Sometimes it felt like there would be no end to the conflict between the red and white nation, no matter how many lives were lost on both sides.

He ordered the second lieutenant to get all their men ready for departure and together with his deputy entered a rather small chalet, which they had already visited, before going for inspection around the valley.

The quarry´s manager – Cameron Henderson – was still sitting behind the battered table, absorbed by the decent heap of correspondence, but he raised his head when they walked in and looked at them with just as stern expression as before.

“So, did you check out everything you needed, _Captain_?”

There wasn´t even a hint of respect in that addressing, more like the opposite, but John decided to ignore it.

“More or less, yes,” he replied, as he stopped in front of the table, with the lieutenant quietly remaining right behind him. “The thing is that I cannot figure out, why they would attack you without a reason, as you claimed.”

Henderson stared at him for a moment and John assumed that the man was already a bit annoyed with him, even though he didn´t let it show.

“I´m pretty sure that you´re aware of problems with Sioux in this area, Captain.”

“Naturally. I was assigned to deal with them,” John reacted calmly. “And I assure you we´re working on it and we have made a significant progress. Only some scattered groups of Indian rebels are still escaping justice, as they´re hiding in the mountains. And according to my experiences, something usually provokes them to act…”

“Those savages don´t need _a reason_ to kill white men,” the manager interrupted him rudely. “And it seems to me that you´re simply not doing _enough_ to prevent it.”

“The best we can, Mister,” he replied coldly. “Unfortunately, we don´t have enough manpower to gather all nomad Indians at once and transfer them to the reservations…”

“Then hang them all,” Henderson recommended harshly. “That would be faster and less costly, wouldn´t it?”

John had already made his opinion about the neatly clothed man with unmoving face, so such a statement didn´t surprise him much, but still, he didn´t like it.

“There are laws to follow, Mr. Henderson. The convicted criminals should be hanged without excuses, but the Army is not murdering innocents.”

“A few years ago, that didn´t seem to be such an issue….” the man´s face remained impenetrable, but John could still feel a hint of mocking challenge in his voice.

“And nobody would be happy if we had stuck in the past like that, don´t you think?” John had enough of the way their conversation was going. It was highly unlikely he would get any more information from Henderson with such an attitude. “Anyway, I appreciate your cooperation. I assure you we will do what´s in our power to catch those who killed your employees. If there are any more incidents with the Indians, please notify the Marshalls office in Fort Collins without any delay.”

John touched his hat in a not exactly polite way and turned to his leave, not waiting for reaction. He had more important things to do than bearing with the former, but haughtier servant of some rich rancher.

*

Cameron watched as those annoying soldiers in blue left the room, listened to the strict voices giving out orders and patiently waited for the sound of hooves to cease completely. Only then he stood up and headed out from his temporary office, waving off two men outside, who were ready to accompany him.

He arrived back at the quarry two days after that disaster happened, so the news about it had reached him on the way. But only after he saw the real extent of the aftermath of Sioux attack, it made him believe it. And also furious.

All their supplies and accounting books were consumed in the fire. He had no office and was half of men short. On the top of it, Grenet was missing and he had to raise his own voice quite a few times to bring those idiots, who were just slacking, back to work, because the substitute foreman was totally incompetent.

At least, no other building took so much damage, so the old barn remained standing also. Two guards were standing in front of the entrance and one of them lifted the bolt and opened the door for him, when he approached.

The inside of the crappy building was too warm and too smelly, with the sunlight penetrating through the holes in the roof and revealing quite a mess of straw, tattered saddles and old tools. He made a mental note to kick somebody later to finally repair it and approached the main pillar, which was supporting that tacky roof.

A slender figure was kneeling at it, with both hands and legs tied. Cameron observed the fresh bruises and blood dripping from the wound on the boy´s forehead and judged that his subordinates did a little more than what they were requested to, but it was no harm in this case.

He was staring at the prisoner without a word, until the boy raised his head slowly. Somebody did a good work on the boy´s face.

“Are you ready to talk now?” Cameron asked coldly.

Grenet´s little bitch reacted with something what almost looked like a smirk.

“I was ready even… before. But you didn´t… let me,” Danny McFly breathed out hoarsely.

“You´ve got what you deserved for being a cowardly deserter,” Cameron assumed. Not to mention that now the boy would certainly be less prone to lies. “So? I´m listening. What happened during that attack?”

McFly took a little shaky breath and then he leant his head over the pillar behind him, closing his eyes: “The day before the attack… Black Riders appeared in Fort Collins,” the boy started talking in a tired and somehow uninterested voice. “Math captured Kamenashi… And after that also Akanishi, who came to rescue him.”

Cameron´s eyes widened in surprise. None of those stupid douchebags told him anything about that. All of them just kept complaining about the crazy bloodthirsty Indians and none of them bothered to even _mention_ … He gritted his teeth to suppress the useless anger. He had been working with idiots for ages, one would have thought that he could at least be used to it, if not reconciled with the fact.

“And? What went wrong?” he could clearly imagine that Grenet stopped thinking once he put his hands on those little brats from Montana.

“Someone set up a fire in the warehouse and that created quite a turmoil,” Danny continued. “Almost everybody ran out to put it out and meanwhile, Akanishi managed to escape.”

“What about Kamenashi?” Cameron frowned.

McFly opened his eyes, but he doesn´t seem to be focused on anything, it was as if he was a bit lost is his narration.

“I rushed upstairs to get Math, but I found him unconscious after his fight with Kamenashi… He locked us in the room shortly before the fire spread to the main building.”

 _So, that idiot tried to get into Kamenashi´s pants and failed. Again,_ Cameron presumed.

“The Indians were helping them then? Did they set up that fire?”

“No, that didn´t seem to be the case this time,” McFly shook his head and winced at the pain he caused to himself with that movement. “We found out only later… Akanishi´s brother with his Riders returned. We thought that they had separated, but somehow, they found out that the other two were in trouble and… came back. Right after they ran off, the Sioux attacked…”

It was hard to believe that something like this would be just a coincidence, especially after what those brats managed to achieve by associating with Indians back in Montana. But the truth was, that Sioux kept causing them troubles for months and hadn´t attacked directly till now. So, it might have been that the red bugs just used the offered opportunity…

“After Math woke up, the main building was already engulfed in flames. We… we managed to jump out of the window only in the last moment,” McFly continued and Cameron felt that the boy didn´t say the exact truth, but he decided to let it pass. “Then we gathered some men and horses and fled from the quarry. The Sioux outnumbered and surprised us, we stood no chance.”

Cameron would rather not know what the damn watches above the quarry were doing while the Indians were sneaking around.

“What then?” he asked impatiently, when his prisoner seemed to be lost at words.

“Well… Math insisted that he would pursue both Kamenashi and Akanishi, but nobody wanted to go with him…”

“So, he took only you along…” Cameron assumed scornfully. “What a surprise.”

McFly shrugged, at least as much as the ropes allowed him to: “He was overconfident. We followed their track and found their camp. Math let me guard the horses and went to spy on them alone. When he hadn´t come back, I went to check on the situation and saw Math captured. The Riders were just about to take him away.”

“And you didn´t do anything to help him?” Cameron asked suspiciously.

McFly chuckled a little: “There were _nine_ of them, what could I do? I´m too young to let myself be killed, Mr. Cameron. So, I set off on the way back…”

“But, obviously, you didn´t intend to return to the quarry to report this,” Cameron hissed, reminding the moment, when his returning company literally ran into the boy on his way to the north.

Danny repaid his sharp stare: “No, I didn’t…” he admitted quietly. “I just wanted to go home.”

“I don´t remember firing you…” Cameron reminded that brat caustically.

“I just don´t want to be anyone´s bitch any longer!” McFly suddenly burst out, confirming to Cameron that the treatment the boy had received from Grenet had left quite a mark.

Cameron stared at him for a while: “You grew up in a cheeky way… Lucky for you I have no weakness for baby boys like Grenet.”

Seeing his cold expression, the boy´s haughty attitude wavered now, Cameron could see as he bit his lip and fidgeted anxiously in his ties.

“Let me go then, Mr. Cameron… Please… You don´t need me here,” McFly pleaded, with hope in his tired, but yet bright eyes. Apparently, the idea of homecoming brought life into him again. Before, when Grenet was using McFly instead of a mattress, the boy was only thinner and more depressed every day. With Cameron´s main foreman disappearance, Danny McFly started to live again. And that even raised his suspicion, that the boy might have been involved in Grenet´s capture by the Riders…

“The last time you saw Grenet, was he alive?” he asked, leaving the previous plea without reaction.

“Yeah, he was… But I don´t know what they meant to do with him.”

Cameron could imagine it was not anything friendly. Grenet did enough shitty things to both those guys for them to feel vengeful… He considered only fifty-fifty chance that his foreman was still alive, so it was better to presume he would not be coming back at all.

Now, he only had to decide what to do with McFly. The boy was not involved in anything important regarding the businesses within his quarry, but he knew enough and if he would talk, it would mean troubles, which Cameron didn´t need.

“Mr. Cameron, I… I don´t mean to cause you any problems,” McFly spoke as if he recognized some of Cameron´s thoughts in his face.

“All right, let´s say I believe you. But still, I cannot let you go.”

“I swear that…!”

“I need all hands here now,” he cut into another plea. “We need to get this quarry back to business, and quickly. After you work out your part of the job, you can go.”

The tied-up boy breathed out in relief: “Really?”

“I must say that Grenet brought this upon himself,” Cameron assumed coldly. “All he thought of was revenge. He was not able to keep his head clear and it got him wherever he´s now… It wasn´t your fault, but I expect you to work for free here until I release you, agreed?”

“Sure, I´ll do my best then!” McFly promised excitedly.

Cameron let his lips spread in a fake smile. After all, he was still just the boy who could be fooled easily: “Good,” he nodded. “I´ll send someone to treat you, take some rest and I want to see you up and working tomorrow morning, understand?”

McFly nodded vigorously, and he seemed to be honest. But it would be better to keep an eye on him for some time yet and if he was about any escapes or stupid ideas again… Well, there were other men among Cameron´s acquaintances, who were fond of boys…

He turned to leave, feeling more satisfied now. As always, he could deal with McFly, as well as with the snoopers from the Army and with the current situation in general without bigger problems. And after everything will be in order again… Cameron smirked to himself at the following idea. Those two Montana brats had been playing with fire for simply too long and he had been patient enough already. Soon, _his time_ for revenge would come and this time, there would be no hot-headed Grenet, who would screw it up.

***

 

The sturdy lieutenant raised his hand and with a clumsy kick he made his horse move. A rather small group of soldiers followed their leader with obvious enthusiasm, which revealed that they were no less happy than the citizens about the fact that the quarantine situation was over.

The sharp eyes of a certain man in black watched the departure of blue uniforms from behind the valance in the window of a small guesthouse, which was, up to that very day, used as a temporary hospital.

Cullen let himself feel a hint of relief only when the dust above the road to the west settled down.

They had been in Hereford for just two days, but each hour of that time made him feel more anxious. Jane and little Jack were confident that none of those, who managed to spot their young leader, would talk. Everyone knew that they were those who brought so much needed medicines, but Cullen was not so trusting. Even in this God-forgotten hole named Hereford they had wanted posters on the walls and despite being sick, a greedy person could happen to be suddenly healthy enough to get up to earn some easy money.

But the small US army unit was gone now and it didn´t seem that they would be coming back. There were only the last three patients left in the building, and they were recovering quickly. The main street was not so empty anymore either; Hereford was slowly coming back to life, though with only a half of their original number of citizens… The grim fact was that the busiest part of the city was the cemetery.

Slowly, Cullen let his revolver slip back to its sheath and turned to the simple bed behind his back, which was occupied by the sleeping brunette.

The evening before, Jane collapsed from exhaustion, as she kept helping in the hospital nonstop ever since their arrival, taking a special care for her remaining sister. Fortunately, her body temperature was normal and the highly contagious disease seemed to avoid her.

Leo watched over his girlfriend´s sleep nevertheless, settling in a chair next to her bed. But not so long ago, he fell asleep in it… He needed some rest as well, as he spent some dreamless nights in Hereford as well and Cullen didn´t consider necessary to wake him up for saying goodbye to the soldiers.

A sudden stomping was heard in the corridor and before Cullen could prevent it, the door threw open.

“They´re gone!” Jack exclaimed excitedly, as he entered the room like an avalanche. “The soldiers…!” the rest of the words were muffled by a hand pressed against the youngster´s mouth.

“For Christ´s sake, can´t you be a little quiet?!” Cullen hissed, as he pushed Jack back. Then he glanced back, to make sure that Leo was still sprawled in the chair, drooling in deep sleep, before he closed the door again. He was glad that the youngster was slowly gaining back his usual carefree self, despite still mourning his late mother, but that didn´t mean he wasn´t in need of some behavioral lessons.

Jack tore Cullen´s hand off his face: “I only wanted…”

“Leo has just fallen asleep!” the older man interrupted him. “For the first time in three days!”

“I didn´t know… I´m sorry…” Jack mumbled humbly.

Cullen waved his hand, driving the youngest Rider away: “Down with you, I bet they need some help there yet.”

“Well, they do, but…”

“So scat!”

Offended Jack ran down the stairs, almost bumping into Nick, who was on his way to get rid of some dirty water.

They all had been helping out, even though by the time they arrived into the town, the worst wave of influenza had already passed, but each healthy hand was needed. So far, nobody even asked from where they had got the necessary medicines. Both Jack and Nick happened to be the saviors of Hereford by now, the rest of them, who sneaked into the town later, managed to blend in less conspicuously, to Cullen´s relief.

But anyway, it was clear what they should do next – as soon as their presence was not necessary anymore, they should move on, before someone remembered the duties of the US citizen. They didn´t have to travel too far; it would be impossible to persuade Leo not to wait for his brother´s return anyway. Cullen knew their young leader long enough to notice that he was anxiously waiting for the second part of their gang to appear…

*

Jane opened her eyes just as the door shut with a quiet click. Two voices, which woke her up, continued their talking behind them, so they sounded muffled and she didn´t understand the exact words, but she assumed that if it was anything important, Cullen or Leo would come to tell her. Feeling a little dizzy, she realized, she overdid it with her efforts to help. She was really lucky not to fall sick as well.

She still felt tired, even though she had to sleep for quite a while, as her neck was all stiff. Jane reached out to massage it and only then her look fell upon the other side of the room.

A beautiful smile spread on the brunette´s face, when she recognized her lover, snorting lightly in the chair right next to her bed, one of his hands resting on the mattress. He chose quite an uncomfortable position for his rest, but Jane figured, it was not Leo´s intention to fall asleep in the first place.

She observed his sleeping face for a while, which was worried even in his sleep and suddenly felt incredibly grateful. No matter what, Leo was on her side even in the hardest and darkest moments. It was selfish of her to drag him along to the town under quarantine. What if he would fall sick too? What would she do then? She had already lost so much, and she couldn´t bear an idea of losing Leo too…

Jane sat up slowly and reached for his hand, soothing it with her fingers. It took a while before Leo came to himself and looked around half-confused, half-alarmed. Jane recognized from his reaction that he was really tired, otherwise he would have been wide awake right away and ready to defend himself with a revolver in his hand. The life behind on the other side of the law made him to be like that.

“Jane… Do you feel better?” he straightened in his chair.

She smiled at him softly: “Not yet… Come here to me,” she requested, pulling on his hand a bit.

Leo didn´t need to be persuaded for long, he just kicked the boots off his feet, pulled the trousers down and then he slipped under the blanket. Only when he circled an arm along Jane´s waist, she felt calm enough to close her eyes again.

“Better?” Leo whispered into her ear.

“Yes…”

“Me too.”

***

 

It was not an uncomfortable travel. The weather was nice; the road calm, they had enough food to eat and the lack of alcoholic liquids could only benefit them. They cracked all the known and even unknown jokes on the way, told stupid stories and mocked each other, with Jin and Kame somehow ending up to be the most frequent targets.

Their easygoing behavior was a little forced, but it served its purpose. For once they all wanted to leave the bad stuff behind and forgotten, before they would jump into other issues again… Which were definitely drawing near to them…

*

“Ouch!” Jin flinched under a connection of his thigh with a mixture of mysterious herbs and disinfection. “Can´t you be more careful?”

“It heals no good,” Liwan frowned at him. “Do you want infection?”

“Of course not,” the half-undressed Rider reacted offended. “But it seems to me you enjoy this too much…” Jin´s face contorted in a painful grin, as the medicine got inside the wound and started to burn like hell again.

“You whine like child. Stop wiggling and endure it like man,” the young shaman held the other´s leg connected with the ground ruthlessly to prevent him from moving.

“Sure… But you _could_ be more gentle…” Jin complained persistently.

“You have Kame for that,” Liwan reacted immediately.

Koki burst out laughing so hard that he almost toppled himself right into their fireplace. Jin´s face blushed and he was not able to react right away.

Ryo raised his head from cleaning up the saddle as well: “I´m gonna miss you, Bear,” he said amusedly, using the Indian´s nickname, which both he and Koki quickly caught from Jin. “You always find so incredibly fitting responses.”

“Exactly,” Koki caught a breath to speak successfully.

“Thank you for your friendly support, buddies,” Jin snapped sarcastically.

“You´re very welcome,” both Riders grinned at him.

“Did I miss anything?” another voice joined the little company in leeward behind the hill near Longmont. It was Kame, returning with the bottles of water hooded on strips around his shoulders and neck for everyone.

“My torture,” Jin grumbled.

“Overreacting,” Liwan stated coldly, as he tightened the bandage around his leg.

“Sissy,” Koki made a mocking gesture at him.

“Shut up!” Jin snapped.

“Man up,” Ryo reacted right away.

Kame was looking from one to another confused, while Jin was sending killing stares towards the other two Riders.

“Your turn, Kame,” Liwan, ignorant to the childish argument, stood up and gestured the younger one to sit. “Let me see your back.”

“I´m fine, Liwan, you don´t have to…”

“Sit,” his blood brother interrupted him in a relentless tone.

And Kame closed his mouth, put all the bottles aside and sat down without any other word.

*

It was their last evening together, so that was probably why the young shaman insisted on checking their slowly healing wounds personally. And no matter the ´cruel´ treatment, Jin appreciated that. He had many reasons to trust the Indian´s medical skills.

Right in the next morning, Liwan was supposed to set off to the north, while their road should be leading them to the east… Jin was not surprised that Kame seemed to be out of his usual self; he could imagine that he younger one was not very happy about the repeated separation with his blood brother.

But still, there was something else off, apart from Liwan´s departure; Jin already knew that broody-gloomy look Kazuya had. This Kame´s side, when the younger one was usually overthinking things and kept quiet about what bothered him, was sometimes quite annoying, but Jin accepted it. His lover was definitely that type of person, who was thinking first and talking second.

Not surprisingly, the younger one noticed Jin´s suspicious looks and it didn´t take long before he reacted to them… Right after they finished their dinner, Kame got up and asked Jin for help with the dishes. They gathered the kettle, all casseroles and spoons and left their bright camp behind, heading through the thin grove towards the small brook.

The hungry Riders literally licked their meals off, so they didn´t have much work with washing almost non-existing leftovers away. But they did it in silence.

Jin straightened up and wiped his hands into the pants, while Kame remained crouching, looking at the rushing water, which was turning dark in the deepening twilight.

“So, what is it this time?” Jin asked, carefully controlling his voice.

Kame replied only after a few seconds: “I want to go with Liwan,” he said quietly, making Jin stiffen. He stared at the younger one´s profile for a long while, not being able to react. At first, he didn’t understand and he didn´t even want to. Why? Why now? Was Kame even serious?

But in the end, Jin admitted to yourself that he was actually not that much surprised…

*

When there was no reaction coming from the older one, Kame stood up as well and looked at Jin directly: “I was thinking about it since the moment we saved him from the Sioux. I cannot let him go alone, Jin. I owe it to him.”

It was hard to say it aloud, harder than Kame had thought it would be, because leaving Jin right now, was the very last thing he wanted to do, but his conscience wouldn´t have let him at peace, if he would let Liwan travel back to Montana alone again. It was about to be a long and dangerous journey; and no matter how capable he was, the young shaman needed somebody to cover his back. That issue with Sioux rebels was more than a good proof of that.

“Yeah, sure…”

Jin´s voice was somewhat stern, so Kame quickly thought of something more to say to explain.

“He helped me back then, when I was looking for you, now I want to help him too,” Kame was getting really nervous under that unreadable look Jin had. “I don´t want to leave you,” he stated unhappily. “But I cannot… I hope you understand that…”

“Oh, yes, I understand,” Jin confirmed still in that strange tone. Then he leant down and started putting the clean dishes on one pile.

Kame sighed: “Jin…”

But just a clinging of casseroles replied him.

“Jin, please!”

The older one stopped already two steps away from him, remained motionless for a while, before he turned back to Kame.

“You just keep talking about what _you want_. What about me then?”

“I´m sorry…” the younger one said quietly. “I know that you…”

“What do you want _me_ to do?” the older one interrupted him.

Kame took a deep breath: “I won´t persuade you leave your brother now, when you finally found him. I don´t want to stand between you two…”

“So once _again_ ,” Jin snapped quite irritated now and hastily put all the dishes aside to the ground, barely preventing himself from throwing them away. “What do you want _me to do_?!”

“I want you to go back to Montana with us!” Kame let his earnest wish come out heatedly. “I want to be with you, close to you, so that I can hug you and kiss you! I can´t bear the idea of us separating again! But I won´t make you choose between me and Leo!”

Jin buried his dark eyes into the younger one´s: “And you cannot even do that… Because it will be _my_ decision.”

Kame was repaying that deep look and he was almost afraid to believe what that expression meant... Could it be that Jin was willing to leave Colorado as well? But he still felt bad for that he was pushing the older one to it…

“Listen to me, Jin. You don´t have to…”

“You came after me before,” Jin interrupted him quickly. “To help me with my brother, no matter what that actually could mean. Now, it´s my turn to repay.”

“But what about Leo, you wanted…”

“My little brother is in a good company. I didn´t know that before,” Jin stated seriously. “Just as I didn´t realize that he´s an adult now. He can take care of himself, and moreover he has got Esler and the others. So… I don´t have to be worried anymore. Not so much, at least…” the older one attempted for a grin.

Kame released a shaky breath. It was damn selfish, but disappearance of that possibility that they would be separated again made him incredibly happy.

“But you should have told me about this earlier,” Jin reproached to him.

“Well… I didn´t want to spoil the mood,” Kame apologized softly. “It was… too nice to be together like this.”

“And here I had almost thought that you want to get rid of me…” Jin reacted with a pretentious complaint.

Kame made two steps closer to the older one, slowly entered his personal space and circled both hands around his neck.

“That will never happen,” he whispered tenderly before attaching to Jin´s lips. _I love you too much for that…_ he added only in his mind, feeling Jin´s mouth reacting to his action eagerly.

“Good to hear that,” Jin replied once they freed each other from a loving kiss and he pulled the younger one even closer for his waist. “But I really _should_ start punishing you for not telling me things…”

“Oh…” Kame raised his eyebrows, when he felt the cheeky hands making themselves comfortable on his bottom cheeks. “Should I be afraid?”

A calculative smirk appeared on Jin´s lips: “Maybe…” he replied indefinitely, before he captured Kazuya´s lips again in a much greedier kiss.

*

The next morning came up cloudy and windy. The clouds seemed to be unnaturally low, chasing each other above the hilly terrain, as the gusts of wind kept trying to blow away the hats of four young men and throwing with the long hair of one Indian.

The little group was standing at the invisible crossroads north of Longmont – there was a clearly visible track made by stage coaches leading directly to the north and almost non-existing path, which led to the east to the small town of Greeley, from where it was possible to get to Hereford.

Liwan was checking on the horses, making sure that they had no hidden injuries or problems, which would prevent them from fast travelling. He checked on both Kuro and Ukushi as the last, recognizing that they were in great shape and ready for the journey. Their masters took care of them quite thoroughly. Soothing both their necks, he smiled a little at the tenderness, which they seemed to have towards each other, even though he stood between them.

The shaman looked to the north, across the hills and plains, wondering if he would not be too late in coming home. Only Manitou knew what might have happened while he was gone. There was a great distance to overcome, until he would be able to see his family again. He was already restless to set off and he planned on proceeding as quickly as possible. And he hoped that his unplanned companions would be able to keep on the pace…

He let Kuro and Ukushi to their sniffing game and turned to the Black Riders, who were almost packed up already. Well, seeing Kame and Akanishi now, a quick proceeding should be just fine. It would take some time before their wounds would heal completely, but they seemed to be doing all right and they were fully relaxed around each other. Especially, his dear blood brother was finally smiling the way he used to…

After the two of them sorted the things out the previous evening, Liwan couldn´t miss Kame´s happy expression. Liwan was glad that Akanishi decided to accompany them, too. He figured that Kame might insist on going with him, but he would rather not imagine what it would do with his blood brother, if he got separated from the young gunslinger now. The uncertainty in Kame´s heart was probably chased away completely, but considering what they had been through recently, they really needed each other to recover from the encounter with the evil spirit completely. Liwan could feel it; it was lingering in their sometimes dark, absent looks. That wound was too deep to be forgotten completely and it needed time. And last, but not least, considering what and whom they could encounter on the way, it was a way better to travel in a greater number.

Liwan suddenly realized someone´s stare, which interrupted his thoughts. It was the yellow-haired Rider, looking at him with a somewhat knowing smirk. The young shaman repaid Tanaka´s look and then the Rider winked at him. At that Liwan raised his eyebrow.

What that was supposed to mean?

*

“Are you sure?” Ryo was standing in front of Jin and Kame, but he was looking mostly at the older one.

“That´s quite a useless question, mate,” the blonde Rider announced before either of the two could react. “They´re stuck together, none of us is able to detach them.”

Jin sent a cold stare in his direction: “Envious now?”

“You can bet,” Koki grinned.

“Your bad luck then,” Jin spread his lips in a winning grimace and turned to Ryo, so that he didn´t see how Koki winked at Kame, making the younger one chuckle. “Tell my brother that I´m sorry, but I don´t think he needs me so much, when he has you guys around.”

Ryo nodded, seemingly pleased by that indirect appreciation: “Got it. I´ll tell him about our new Indian friend and I´m sure he´ll understand.”

“I hope so…” Jin sighed, trying to be optimistic about it as well. But he couldn´t help thinking that Leo would be quite disappointed. “I´ll be looking forward to see your annoying faces again,” he reached his hand towards the black-haired Rider, who was the first one to trust him, when he introduced himself as Leo´ brother at their encounter months ago.

Ryo shook it heartily: “Hopefully not on the wanted posters.”

“Yeah… Definitely not there,” Jin nodded grinning.

Kame proceeded forward as well and to Jin´s badly hidden displeasure, he hugged Ryo shortly: “Tell my greetings to everyone, and especially to Jane. It was really nice to meet you all.”

“You too, Handsome,” Ryo smiled at him widely, repaying his hug willingly. “Who would have thought you´ll end up being a Rider as well, huh?” then he glanced at Jin, who was just indicating something what almost looked like cutting his neck, and he stepped away from Kame laughing. “Easy, Jin, he´s all yours now.”

Kame turned to his boyfriend reproachfully, but at that moment Jin already seemed as the most innocent man in the world.

“Liwan, it was my pleasure,” Ryo approached the serious Indian as the last one and the shaman of Blackfeet Tribe accepted his offered arm with both hands.

“Mine too,” he nodded.

“Koki? You won´t say them goodbye?” Ryo asked the blonde one, who was just leaning over his horse with his arms crossed all that time.

“No,” Koki shrugged. “It´s not necessary.”

“That was some education you´d received from your parents,” Jin snorted.

The blonde one smiled at him brightly: “You don´t understand. I don´t have to say goodbye to you, because I´m going with you.”

“What??” a double-reaction came from Jin and Ryo, while Kame and Liwan just stared at the Rider surprised.

Koki walked over to his best friend and tapped his shoulder: “You know me, buddy. I just can´t stay still,” he smiled a little apologetically. “I haven´t been home for ages, so I thought I might go to see my folks, especially since these three are heading the same way.”

Ryo was looking at his blonde friend rather abashed: “But… We´ve just got you back from that damn quarry and now you want to leave again? Leo would definitely disagree and I…”

“I know and that´s why I´m not going to ask him,” Koki reacted half-joking, half-serious. “And also…” he looked at Kame. “Four are always better than three, right? Since you emphasized the safe journey so much.”

The younger one repaid Koki´s look for a while, before he remembered something: “If you think that you still owe me something, than it´s nonsense. You paid it back like two times already.”

“Well, it´s more like I don´t want to give up on your pleasant company, Handsome,” Koki reacted amused.

“You won´t change your mind?” Ryo tried one more time, but he already saw on his friend that the question was useless. He sighed, not feeling upset, only sad: “Well… At least, I´ll have some peace from you for a while.”

“Jerk,” Koki stuck out his tongue at him.

The black-haired Rider laughed shortly, but then pulled Koki into a friendly hug: “Be careful.”

“Don´t worry, man. As I said - you know me, right?”

“It´s _because_ I know you that I worry…” Ryo sighed, let Koki go, quickly turned away, as if he didn´t want them to see his face and jumped into the saddle. “You two owe me,” he pointed at Jin and Koki then.

“What for?” Jin frowned.

“For having to deal with Leo, once he finds out about this.”

“I´d say that you owe us for taking _him_ along,” Jin snorted, pointing a finger at Koki.

“Come on, don´t be such a spoilsport,” the blonde one threw an arm across Akanishi´s shoulders. “It will be fun!”

“I have no doubt that for you it will,” Ryo reacted grinning and turned his horse to leave.

“Ryo!” Kame called after him in the last second. “If anything comes up, send us the telegram to Bozeman. We will be probably available there.”

Jin looked at the younger one, grateful that he thought about something like this.

“Good idea,” Ryo nodded. “Can we use your name?”

“No problem,” Kame agreed.

“And even if my brother says not to write to us, don´t listen to him,” Jin urged on him. “No matter the distance, we will come.”

This time, Kame´s eyes turned to the older one, in an understanding and approving way.

“Well, I think I should follow our leader´s orders first, so…”

“Ryo…” Jin said the name with a serious emphasis.

“Ok, ok, I will, promise,” the Rider nodded, actually glad that they insisted on something like that. “Unfortunately, I have no idea to where we might head from now on, otherwise I´d tell you how to contact us…”

“Just stay out of troubles. Especially my little brother,” Jin reacted. “I´d rather not hear about you from the newspapers.”

“All right, I´ll pass it on. See you, guys!” and then, without looking back, Ryo set off in the fast pace towards his goal.

In an unspoken agreement, the rest of them headed to their animals as well, as soon as the Rider´s figure disappeared behind the hill.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Jin mumbled, as he tightened the buckle on Kuro´s saddle. “Dealing with that dumbass´ remarks all the time…”

“Jin, don´t be so grumpy,” Kame appeared on his side, calming him quietly. “It´s true that it´s better if there´s more of us.”

“Maybe, but not in _his_ case,” Jin hissed. “And in combination with Bear… You should keep me from jumping on them or I´ll probably strangle them just to make them shut…”

While Jin still kept complaining, Kame sighed, checked on Liwan and Koki, who were mounting with their backs to them and quickly grabbed the collar of Jin´s shirt.

*

A sudden move, with which Kame pulled him close, surprised Jin so that he lost the thread of his words. The soft lips locked his mouth in a short, but quite demanding kiss. It left Jin dumbfounded, when Kame bit his lower lip before pulling back.

Kazuya smiled satisfied, seeing Jin´s expression: “You´re allowed to jump only on me alone,” he whispered and it would really sound like an order, if not for the longing in the younger one´s tone.

“Well,” Jin cleared his throat, desperately holding himself back from jumping on his lover right away. “I might deal with them somehow then…” he admitted.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good.”

“Can we go or are you gonna drag this out till nightfall?” Koki´s mocking voice interrupted their moment.

Kame left the spot between two horses, flashing an innocent smile, while Jin raised his hand above Kuro´s saddle and showed the blonde one a very rude gesture. Liwan was already on the move, while Koki was leaning over the pommel, waiting for them.

“You want a fight?” the Rider asked grinning.

“A race,” Jin replied immediately.

“Fine,” the blonde one agreed. “Let´s go, boy!” and in the next second, Koki´s horse set off in fast gallop.

“You cheating bastard!” Jin sent an insult after him, already also in his saddle, but Kame could see that his lips were twitching in an excited smile. “Come on, Kuro. We´ll show him his place.”

Kame watched as his lover rushed his faithful stallion after the blonde Rider. After that he got seated on Ukushi in a much calmer way and leisurely caught up with Liwan, who observed the passing competitors with a surprised look.

“Are they always like this?” his Indian brother asked.

“Pretty much,” Kame confirmed.

Liwan turned to look at him and watched the smiling face of the younger one for a while. Kame realized it and repaid his glance questioningly: “What is it?”

And Liwan couldn´t help but smile too: “I am just happy you are with me, Brother.”

***

 

He was excited about what He felt in the air. Another journey, another adventure.

The speed with which He could move forward was so consuming and it was great to feel that his Master was happy and excited too.

When their new Herd stopped for the night, He was still restless and He wanted to continue. But White seemed to be needing rest, so He settled next to her and watched as Humans gathered around that hot thing, which always smelled in a little different way.

Later on, Master and his Mate walked away into the dark, probably to do that strange thing with their mouths. They kept on their secret, even though it was not secret anymore. How foolish.

But He considered the privacy in the dark a good idea and shifter closer to White, away from the light. She welcomed him tenderly, leaning Her head over His. And He realized something – there was something different about the way White smelled.

He snorted a little and pushed His head under Her neck, sniffing again. When He raised it and looked at White, She was looking at him too. He snorted excited and made a few enthusiastic steps around His White, as far as the small trees allowed Him to. Now, they had Secret too.

 

 

****

**END OF RED WEST II.**

**To be continued in RW III.**

**^_^v**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear RW readers...
> 
> 2 years and 4 months... 45 chapters... That long took me to finish the second part of Red West. I haven´t realized it has been so long, until I checked the posting date of the 1st chapter. When I had started with RW, I wouldn´t have even imagined that it would get stuck with me for so long...
> 
> It wasn´t easy to reach this point of the story. It was not only about Jin and Kame anymore, even though those two remained the main characters. Since I included many additional personas, even historical ones and I didn´t put them there to be just in the background, there was a lot more to write and I had to think about it carefully. And even though all of this stole me for a lot of free time, it was fun, it was emotional and I´m going to miss it as hell. But hopefully, not for long... I already have some ideas for continuation on my mind and I´ll be happy to share them with you, when the right time comes.
> 
> AKame community had grown somewhat quiet during past few years and it´s not surprising, I get it. People change, grow up and move on. It´s a natural development, but it still makes me feel sad and so nostalgic about the times, when it was much livelier, because AkaKame still mean so much to me....
> 
> So, this is actually my plea towards all of you – and I mean really ALL of you, who found the time to read my story. If there is anything you´d like to comment, to recommend, to wish for, to complain about, you have a chance. Let me know what you liked, what you disliked, which character you´d like to see more, what you laughed about the most, what you cried about, what pissed you off. Any opinion or advice will be highly appreciated.
> 
> I´m not that type of an author, who would stop writing just because of the lack of reactions, but each and every comment can be that greatest kick, which keeps me from giving up. It´s very important for me to know that YOU are out there waiting for a new chapter. And I can promise you there IS something to wait for. Even though RW II. turned out to be quite long, there are still many things to tell and many... ehm, perverted ideas of mine to use on Akame. XD
> 
> But for now – I need a break. No matter how much I enjoy writing this story, there were parts really difficult to create and it feels like I´ve used up all of my specific plans and energy. I´m officially entering the hiatus from writing with uknown termination...  
> Till then... Jaa ne!
> 
> Kasumi


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